Sky High 2
by victoriarogue
Summary: Will Stronghold and his friends learn that there is more to being a superhero than fancy titles and a little fame. A new student, Faveau Cazadora, shows them some of the more real-life situations that can make a hero turn to a villain. She already seems to be on that path.
1. Chapter 1

_Mortsunder, otherwise known as the city of the dead, has been protected and inhabited by demons, humans, and those of us who are in between for centuries. The city is best recognized as the gateway between the living and the undead. _

On a quiet night along the borders of the city, an overly-clothed figure is en route to battle a kidnapper. You might ask what is wrong with the world when a seemingly perfect stranger has to fight a kidnapper. Well, this stranger is no ordinary person quite frankly, and the kidnapper is hardly considered a human anymore. Glowing, yellow eyes light the way through the dark forest lining the edge of the city borders. Footsteps crunch down on grass, dead beetles, and rough terrain as they sound in the relatively sound atmosphere.

Along the horizon emerged a roughly normal cottage-style house where the kidnapper was said to be keeping children. The glowing eyes sensed innocent souls crying and moaning as the soft wind blew through a figure's loose brown cloak and purple scarf. The actual person could not be seen as the shadows covered him. The spirits of young girls danced about the cottage, trying to find their friends and figure out where they were. Of course, no one could hear the words of ghost children unless they were amongst the dead. These girls who were confused and going about their way were unaware that they were well on their way to crossing over into the next life. The glowing yellow eyes in the distance merely watched the ghost children, no longer walking toward the cottage. They were now waiting for something to disturb the spirits. They could feel an evil presence surrounding the children and the cottage.

Within moments, a screech and a laugh sounded, gaining the attention of the ghosts and the glowing eyes. The souls of the children turned to mist then gathered in front of the cottage to form a curvatious woman with ethereal white hair and soft blue eyes that glowed with power. She wore a rather lovely purple dress that rouched along the waist line and had sharp fangs between two rouged lips. She pushed her breasts up a bit to adjust their perkiness into the bust of her dress before combing her hand through her hair, taking care to look at her three-inch nails that were sharpened to purple talons. Her jewelry glowed with power and had the insignia of Medusa's head.

"I can sense your power, girl. Reveal yourself to me!" the woman hissed, smiling confidently. No woman could be more beautiful than she was now!

The glowing eyes hiding in the forest in front of the cottage inched their way closer to the arrogant lady. The woman turned her head sharply, chuckling at the cloaked creature coming towards her. As the figure came into the moon's calming rays, it opened its cloak and yanked off its hood to reveal a beautiful, young woman. The witch gasped then hissed and grew angry at the woman before her. She stood a nice five-foot-seven or -eight in her heeled tall boots. Her hair reached the middle of her shoulder blades and was braided in two cornrows with the bangs sweeping against her hardened face. She had two silver hoops hanging from her ears, long black eyelashes, full lips, and reddish-brown skin. In short, she was a beautiful black girl dressed in modern-Victorian clothes: gray corset, white blouse with ruffled sleeves and collar, silver cross, white pearl-like hunting gear, black boots and trousers reminiscent of the Victorian times, and several other accessories. Her eyes were particularly yellow, however, but they glowed so beautifully that they had the appearance of a soft flame on a romantic vintage lamp.

The woman growled as she watched the girl pull out two long-barreled handguns then bellowed out a roar to summon several bat-like creatures. Lightning struck the cottage's rooftop and from it was the birth of thousands of young bat demons. The girl looked up at the bats, opened the hook in the back of one of the pistols, attached the other pistol to the open hook, and pulled out a crossbow attachment from behind her cloak. Swiftly, she hooked on a gatling arrow blaster to the two hooked pistols and formed an entirely different weapon at her disposal! The woman directed the bat creatures to the girl with a sharp command, anticipating her death or capture. If she could get this woman's soul, imagine the possibilities of being beautiful for a lifetime! She could be beautiful to any creature she saw like the all-powerful gorgon, Medusa, herself!

"Get the girl!"

_We, of the Cite Legion, protect Mortsunder's suddle and enchanting dominion by training soldiers to hunt, capture, or exterminate any demon, witch, ghoul, or undead body that intentionally disrupts the city's peace. Because of the undead and the living inhabiting this city together, Mortsunder's people live in constant conflict, and it is up to the Cite Legion to bring peace to her people. Our legion consists of elite hunters chosen by the cross and teachings of the legendary Abraham van Helsing, or my ancestor who was graced as the first well-known hunter of the undead. I am Einrie Gomez van Helsing, prominent student of my father's almanac of the demon world, mentor to three generations of hunters, and one of six elders within the legion. Unfortunately, this is not a documentary or heroic tale about me. This story is about my student..._

Narrowing her vision, the hunter with the gatling firearm positioned her gun to a common point of attack that would be made by the bats. She formulated several vectors along a field that could destroy a multitude of bats in only a few shots of her silver arrows. Taking aim then a calm breath, she fired the gatling crossbow and hit several bats at a time. Screeching then explosions rang through the air as the green disenchanted insides of the bat creatures splashed on the earth below them. The witch yelled out from her disapproval and possible defeat, but she thought of a different strategy to beat this girl out.

Roaring out to her remaining bats, she gathered them around her body to change her being. The girl watched as hundreds of bats turned into the largest set of wings possibly produced by the white-haired woman's spell then hissed a bit. She ran at the witch, throwing her gatling crossbow over her shoulder, and summoned dark powers of her own. The witch felt a strong surge of power emanating from her and gasped at this. She prepared to use a teleportation spell, and, in the middle of completing it, the girl took an astounding leap and managed to grab at her Medusa medallion. However, grabbing onto the medallion did nothing to stop the witch from completing her spell. Together, the feuding women disappeared in a flash of white light bordered by shadow.

It was a relatively quiet night in the suburbs of Mortsunder. A mother and her daughter were calmly sewing buttons together for a shawl to cover a red evening gown with crystals along the bust. It was a lovely corset top and flowing skirt cascading down the bottom in a splash of crimson. Abruptly, a screech was heard and the lights suddenly went out. The mother and daughter scrambled to retrieve weapons of any kind to protect themselves from the demons that terrorized the human civilians and revealed a silver knife and white salt respectively. The daughter, not quite understanding how her mother found any use in the salt, just sighed at her findings and shook her head. Somehow, they were related. Moments later, two bodies swooped down and crashed through the roof with a deafening impact! Parts of the roof collapsed on the mother, and, even worse to the daughter, destroyed the red dress.

"Nnnooooo!" the daughter screamed.

Neither the witch nor the girl knew how long they were going to fall or how many floors were left before they hit the ground, but the two did understand that the building and everyone in it were in danger. Unbeknownst to the witch, the girl was angered by her evacuation signals being ignored once again. With a vice grip, she snatched the medallion off the woman's neck and began to crush it with inhumane strength mustered into her bare hand. She reeled her fist back then punched the woman across her jaw, feeling it crack under her finger bones. The woman swiped her talon across the girl's face in anger then fired a blast from her hand, causing the girl to fall through the building faster and harsher. The witch licked the blood from her nails, shivering from the sweet taste and chuckling as she absorbed a snipet of the girl's life force.

"Damn it to hell!" the girl hissed before feeling her back crash through another apartment floor. She fired at the woman, noticing her hair changing from the lustrious silver it was to a softer brown color. The woman's large bat wings opened, stopping the witch from falling and kept her afloat. She yelled out, "Stubborn witch!"

The witch laughed at the girl's frustration, not noticing the arrows coming towards her, then said, "Your life force will give me youth and beauty beyond anyone's dreams. I will be more loved than the city itself. I will bathe in riches only queens have seen goddesses partake in. Men will flock around me, offering gifts abundantly. Women like you will have nothing left to hope for except to be like me. What do you think of that, Agent Chandella?"

_Chandella is Faveau's agent name, given to her by the second elder of the legion. Faveau was chosen by the legion to train as a hunter for her keen senses and swift reflexes. She didn't have any form of super power like her mother at the time, and she hardly knew anything about weapons or demons like her father. She was the most normal child to enter our headquarters. But the elders saw something in her. Her abilities were recognized by the elders, and the second elder wanted her to be part of the legion. Chandella became her agent name at the tender age of thirteen. The second elder claimed it was because her eyes glowed like the flames of the crystal chandelier above our table when a demon approached: bright, romantic, and alert._

The girl, Faveau "Chandella", smirked at the witch's question and revealed the Medusa medallion cracked along the center. The witch gasped, having forgotten about her own prized possession, and Chandella screamed out,"I say you forgot something!"

Shadows covered Chandella's body and stopped her from landing on the ground floor a few inches above the carpet of the final apartment. A middle-aged man eating popcorn jumped from the floating shadow a few inches away from his 52-inch screen TV and cowered behind his Lay-Z-Boy couch in soft whimpers. The shadow's wings formed and behind them was the girl in a different light. Chandella, while floating on her back, flapped her black wings a bit before opening her eyes and grinning like a madman. Her teeth were now fangs and her eyes a vivacious red color. She lifted her hand up as if reaching for the ceiling then opened it to reveal the medallion crushed into a fine powder.

_There was also another reason the elders recognized her as one of the best agents for the Cite Legion. Can't believe I forgot this most important one! It's rather obvious due to our origins from the great Abraham van Helsing. Faveau could sense evil several miles away and fight one of the strongest of all demons: the vampire. In fact, the day she fought her first vampire, was the same day she learned that she was no ordinary child anymore. She had a superpower...and that...was the ability to copy the powers of the strongest opponents and master them..._

"NO!" the witch shouted.

She began screaming demonically as her power left her body. The souls of the children she ate from were freed and returned to their proper bodies in the cottage where they were imprisoned. Chandella floated to her feet, leaving the frightened man and his apartment as the old witch's body plummeted to the ground to her death...

_Recently, however, Faveau has been causing trouble amongst her fellow hunters and the city itself. The reason? I like to think she's just getting used to her job. _

"Chandella! Chandella, you murderer!" the man, who cowered behind his sofa, shouted as he ran out of his house. He couldn't stand having a ruined house and dead body in his apartment, especially one of an old woman. He continued, "You kill one of your own? A curse upon your house, Chandella!"

_My troublesome student, Faveau "Chandella" Cazadora, has gained a rather infamous reputation as a hunter of the underworld. She can perform feats better than anyone else and speak several languages like ancient werewolf and Salem witch. Her father, Fuerte Cazadora, is a blue blood hunter; meaning, his family shares a long history of hunting and expelling demons. She is now in the position to carry on the gift. Even with this on her plate, however, she seems to forget something important: damage to the city is expensive! Yet...nothing is more expensive than her crushed heart when the people she wants nothing more than to protect grow to hate her..._

* * *

Faveau landed in front of a Catholic church in her vampire form, startling many of the nightly churchgoers. She practically floated above the beautiful cobblestone streets as her heels clicked very lightly against the moist stones. Her wings were still in their full wingspan, matching the gorgoyles looking down on her, but she politely closed them before someone ran into them. Some men were bumping into her on purpose anyway. Two senior citizens crossed their fingers over their chest, whispering "Hail Mary" before catching their breath. They knew only one disgusting little brat would dare walk through the streets of Mortsunder in a cursed form. Faveau watched the women stomp away from her then took a deep breath to calm her adrenaline and silence the vampire power.

A priest came out of the church, slamming the doors open, and turned to see Faveau concentrating on sealing her powers. He rolled his eyes then sighed as he watched her. Shadows engulfed the girl again and revealed the real, natural Faveau Cazadora. Her eyes were no longer red or yellow; in fact, they were a pleasant light brown color. She kneeled before the church on one knee and crossed her fingers over her chest in a silent prayer. The priest walked towards the girl, hiding his hands behind his back, and waited for her to finish asking for forgiveness for the rude entrance.

"The mission is done, father," she said.

"So is our building funds from the government. Come," the priest commanded, leading the girl into the church. Once he entered the building, he stopped by a table where bread and wine were delicately resting on a wooden table. He broke a piece of the stale, cold French bread then brought it to Faveau's lips for her to eat, praying in the process through a mental communication between them. She ate the bread then watched as he handed her the small bit of red wine from the bluntly-stemmed glass. It was actually warm. While she drunk the wine, the priest then said, "Do you realize how much in damage you've caused on your mission?"

"How much worse can it be?" the girl asked, placing the glass back on the table. It was a ritual for every hunter to partake in a communion of serenity and peace after a mission. They were brought to the front room of the church, where the priest and Faveau were located, and only made conversation about the collateral the church were to pay for in turn of the government's grants. She then said, "It was only $254,000 last time, and we paid that off discretely."

"No, I paid _that_ out of my pocket! The church will never be able to build itself up with your _insensible_ thrills of destruction."

"How is protecting our city from a witch-kidnapper a thrill? I was only doing my job!"

"Your pay from this job is going to a different charity if you keep this up," the priest said, leading the girl to a quiet office where they could speak without passersby hearing of their conversation. "Your collateral this time was over 1.65 million dollars! Where exactly are we going to get that kind of money, hm? You even have 12 injuries on your record! How are we supposed to pay collateral _and_ hospital bills?"

"Father, at least think about what was done," Faveau argued, almost desperate for someone to be on her side today. Everyone hated her. She continued, "Twelve injuries and a damaged apartment building outweighs the forty teens and kids this witch drained life from. No one died except the witch and her minions."

"You were asked to bring her back alive," the priest said, staring incredulously at the girl.

"_Dead_ or alive," she clarified.

"You had detainers to drain her power!" he argued.

"But not to release the forty souls!" she spat back.

"Well, what a party!"

The two debaters turned to the door to see a man, drinking wine from the cup Faveau touched earlier. He was a rather tall man with soft green eyes and long gray hair, but he did have a bit of a receding line and some wrinkles along his eye line. His nose was sharp and cheeks full, giving him an educated and young appearance even though he was pushing to be somewhere in his early 50s. He was wearing a green trenchcoat with a wide-brimmed black Stetson cowboy hat and brown slacks. His boots were covered in soot from the swamps and there was blood on his shoe strings. The priest made like a gagging motion before crossing his fingers over his chest to whisper a prayer of patience.

"Van Helsing!" Faveau called, happy to see her mentor.

"Master Einrie, your student is becoming more and more wreckless by the day with these missions! Unless you both want the church to be bankrupt or lose credibility with the government, I suggest you figure out a way to control her tendencies to destroy public property," the priest said, stomping away from both hunters to get away from the smells of death. Even if the creatures they fought were of the undead, that didn't mean they had to drag their deaths in the church!

"That went well," Einrie said, taking off his hat and shrugging. He then asked, "So, did you finish your mission?"

"Yes, sir."

Einrie nodded then walked over to a neighborly chair to sit down. He rubbed his knees after sighing and lifted a leg up to release a proud farting noise. He waved his hand to air out the smell before it reached his nose then said, "Whoo, you have _no_ idea how long I held that in! The people that drive the damn taxis are so uppity this year."

"That is so gross," Faveau remarked, taking a soft Kleenex tissue resting in its box on a thin table and covering her nose. "How were the swamps?"

"Perfectly wretched!" Einrie answered, enthusiastically. He looked around the room to find something of interest then spotted several bottles of liquor with shot glasses. "Oh, brandy! Want some, love?"

"I'll stick to communion wine," Faveau answered.

"Fair enough," Einrie said, hopping over to the liquor counter. "What happened to the witch?"

"Plummeted to her death seven stories down after having her powers stripped in mid-air," Faveau answered, finding a comforting throne-like chair to sit in.

"Any casualties?" Hellsing asked, pouring brandy into his cup then sucking it down in one gulp. He poured more then closed the bottle and reached for the wine bottle Faveau wanted. He noticed it was rather light and shook it a bit to estimate the amount left. He said, "About a third left of the wine. Want the rest?"

"Yes, please," Faveau answered, rubbing her right temple while crossing her legs. In her position, most suitors would call her a queen. The vampire men already recognized her as a fellow countess. She then realized she hadn't answered her mentor's question and said, "No casualties per usual. The police were able to locate the missing people. Only twelve reported injuries were documented on my record."

"You're in a cottage in the middle of nowhere," Einrie declared, scoffing at the injury record. "How the hell can you injure people in the forest?"

"The witch teleported us to an apartment complex that was _supposed_ to be _evacuated_ per _my_ instructions because it was a possibility that she could go there for more souls to drain. More children were in that building."

"How'd the injuries happen?"

"We crashed through the ceiling and fell seven floors down," she answered, sinking into her chair a bit.

Einrie hummed, handing Faveau her bottle of wine before sipping at his own brandy. He then said to Faveau with a bit of guilt, "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to suspend your hunter's permit and halt your apprenticeship rights."

"Will it make Greeny happy?" Faveau asked, drinking straight from the bottle. "You may as well fire me. Then he'd really jump for joy."

"Father Greenbridge may be annoying but he means well. Your actions are concerning in regards to human life. Today, you've hit a remarkable $1.93 million in damage. Yesterday, it was $1.61 - a considerable increase of nearly 34.5%. Over the summer, we set you on a mission to Paris during fashion week and you caused a reported $10.5 million dollars worth in collateral damage. On top of that, there were 37 injuries - 34 of them being models at a rehearsal the night prior. Those medical bills weren't forgiving either. Faveau, I know you're trying your hardest to become protector of our beloved city like your father before you, but you have to realize that you're hurting people in a way beyond something medical. These buildings that you destroy support hundreds of peoples' jobs or homes. Paychecks are cut just to cover up your damage. A broken window or some crap tile is nothing, but an entire company is something we can't cover as it is."

Realizing there was no real hope of having support for her deeds, Faveau took a long gulp of her wine then swallowed it whole, feeling that tiny burn tickle her throat and chest. Maybe this was the Divine Keeper's way of saying she was not meant for this job like she dreamed - like she thought. She sighed then said, "Guess I was bound for this sort of road sooner or later. Who the hell was I kidding? I'm meant to destroy life...not save it."

"Now, don't say that. You do save lives physically."

"No, I don't. They're on borderline towards death with the injuries half the damn time!" Faveau said, taking one last swig of her wine, emptying the bottle. She continued, turning to Einrie, "I'll just go back to school and go on low key." She tossed something to her mentor, earning a light gasp, then remarked, "That's the Eye of Medusa. She used it to control the girls she drained. Rest in peace, teacher."

* * *

"I would _hate_ to be that guy... Pass the popcorn."

William Stronghold was busy on his double date with Layla Williams, his first girlfriend, Warren Peace, his best friend, and Warren's date for the evening, Cris Haxel, or Freeze Girl as everyone liked to call her. They were all seated in Freeze Girl's car, watching a movie outdoors; of course, Warren got shotgun since it was his girlfriend's car, but he also had the responsibility of keeping everyone's stupid popcorn warm. Hence why he rolled his eyes and mumbled something incoherent when he passed Will his popcorn.

"Butter's hot," Warren warned, only to hear Will's silent yelp in pain. He smirked a bit before saying, "Screwball..."

"Nice timing," Layla sarcastically complimented.

"Thanks, hippie," he replied.

"Come on, Warren," Cris softly whispered, touching Warren's knee. She smiled a little then said, "It's not nice to tease the kids."

Under normal circumstances, Warren would uncharacteristically jump in for a kiss, but like Cris said the kids weren't ready for that sort of behavior yet. Of course, seeing Will and Layla blush from a little PDA would boost his ego plenty, but Cris may not like that sort of behavior in front of them either. Pity, really. Instead of going for the goal, Warren simply turned to Cris with a mischievous smirk then went back to the movie. He wasn't sure if Cris caught on to his desires at first, but that frosty squeeze and soft caress of the muscle above his knee was definitely a sign that she got the message. If they could talk telepathically, they would definitely be mentally making out. Feeling his mouth water a bit from the thought, Warren decided to simply place a heated hand over Cris' then reach for his soda. Thankfully, they were able to bring specially-made, power resistant items to hold their snacks and what-not in. It was a good thing Will's mom thought about visiting the Mayor of Maxville over the summer. Had it not been for the meeting they wouldn't have ever known about a shop in Maxville that sells merchandise to heroes. Unfortunately, the owners stopped selling items personally for sixteen years, but they still delivered to the front door.

"Yeah, what Cris said!" Will bantered.

"Want me to blow on it?" Layla asked, making Warren choke on his soda.

"Uh...what?" Will questioned nervously, voice going an octave higher than he'd like.

"On your tongue-burn," Layla answered, as if stating the obvious. "Do you want me to blow on it so it'll cool off?"

"I'd..._ahem_!" Will loudly cleared his throat before saying, "I think I'll just...drink the soda."

"I don't think that's the right approach to ask for a kiss, y'know," Cris said, causing Will to choke on his own soda. "Especially if you want a French kiss. You might just want to take baby steps, Layla."

"And that soda just went right through me. Excuse me, guys!" Will yelled behind him, running from the car to the nearest restroom.

"I'm gonna..." Warren started, pointing to Will then himself repeatedly to explain. "Just check on him...right..."

With that, Warren got out of the car and walked in the same direction that Will ran off to by a public restroom. He was going to need that guy talk from someone a tad older and more experienced in that dating field. Ha! Like Warren Peace was a love guru! Walking into the unkempt, outdoor bathroom, Warren spotted Will washing his face to calm down. His face was a nice shade of pink.

"You poor bastard..." Warren commented, startling Will a bit.

"Yeah...thanks..." Will replied.

A woman's scream sounded, alerting the boys, and a quaking footstep shook the earth they stood on. They looked at each other for a moment then ran back outside to see what happened. Teens all positioned in front of the movie screen were either running away from their cars or were revving them up to get out of the way. Layla and Cris were already acting as opponents to probably the largest creature anyone had seen in a while.

Will and Warren were running past jostling teens and some adults to get to the creature and help the girls. However, from seemingly the darkest place in the heavens, a hawk-like creature swooped down and grabbed Warren like a mouse. Warren concentrated enough energy into his hands and threw a fireball at the bird, hitting it in the face and causing it to drop him. Will managed to rescue his friend by taking flight and catching him in the nick of time.

Layla summoned several trees in the form of stairs for Cris to hop on to get to the creature. It was a peculiar dragon, screeching as it searched through the frightened crowd for something. No one exactly knew what. Cris mustered up enough ice from the moisture in the air to freeze the creature's mouth closed. Angered, the dragon shot out a flaming blast from its mouth then turned to Cris, licking its teeth as it measured her up and down as supper...


	2. Chapter 2

"Will, get me close to his face," Warren ordered.

"Why would you want to be near its head where it can roast you like a pig?" Will questioned, flying close to it but not near its head.

"Don't you ever pay attention in class? The dragon's head is its weak point. Look, if you get me close enough, I can blast him near his eyes. He won't be able to see. You can take him out from there," Warren suggested, earning Will's trust.

Both young men were surprised when the dragon turned its head to them and purred. It had very intense yellow eyes with slit pupils resembling a vicious cat. Its maw was scaly and looked rough to the touch with a drooping, gray moss-like beard hanging from its chin. Its teeth were large, white, and pointed as they glistened in the moonlight. The dragon curled its lips into a cunning smile, shaking its head a little and flapping its fin-like ears. The curled mountain goat horns on its head clicked together like wooden shoes as his head turned toward the boys, ignoring the girls approaching him from below.

The dragon hissed and grinned wickedly, "That only works in movies. My head is not the source of my power."

Warren's eyes widened just as Will's had when they heard the beast speak to them in clear English. Warren looked ahead of him, hearing a screeching noise, and then back to the dragon and noticed the hawk creature swooping at them. He then yelled out, "Left! Left! Left!"

Will looked up to see the hawk creature coming at them full-speed then dodged to his left as Warren said, only getting hit by the dragon's whip-like tail. Will lost his grip on Warren and twirled in the sky for a moment before recovering from the blow. Warren threw a fireball at the dragon's head as he was descending to the ground while Cris threw a few ice balls at the dragon's mouth. The dragon's eyes glowed a fierce blue then released rays from its eyes! Layla forced the tree Cris was on to shake then killed it, causing it to droop and wilt. Cris managed to grab onto a tree branch as Layla helped her come down to move away from the dragon's eyebeams. Will raced through the air, dodging the hawk's swooping attacks, and managed to catch Warren by the foot before he hit the ground.

The dragon roared at the hawk creature, earning an obedient screech, and then bellowed a powerful scream. The sound hurt the ears and made the junior heroes falter and cringe at the banshee shriek. Will swooped down to the ground to put Warren down then landed himself to cover his ears. Suddenly, a large, blinding light opened in the sky and bolts of lightning trickled out of the hole in the night's vast ocean of space. The dragon crouched down low then growled as it opened its wings. They were massive and permitted the soft wind to pass through them like a ship's sails. The dragon flapped its wings once, causing a windstorm to blow the junior heroes back, and then pushed his body off the ground with its large feet. It gently flew into the rift, leading the hawk creature into it as well. Before they knew it, the talking creature was gone. It didn't find whatever it was that it wanted.

"Where do you think it went?" Will asked.

"I dunno," Warren answered.

"Will!"

Will and Warren looked in the sky in the general direction of the voice to see two women flying towards them. One of the women was Will's mother, Jetstream, dressed in her American-colored supersuit with a worried look on her face. The other woman had her hair, eyes, feet and arms covered in flames. She was dressed in black tights and heeled boots but had variations of a Chinese dress etched into her suit. Both women landed onto the cemented parking lot, searching wildly for their sons. They saw Layla and Cris, checking on each other's bodies for wounds, and then turned to see Will and Warren walking towards them. Jetstream ran towards Will with relief in her eyes while the other woman sighed and smiled as her son came to her.

"Hi, mom," Will responded, anticipating his mother about to check on his wounds or search for some sort of scratch.

"What are you doing here?" Warren asked his own mother, wondering why she should ever worry about him. He was quite capable of handling himself.

"I was worried about you," the woman said, plainly and boldly as she touched Warren's face with a warm, flaming hand. He sighed under the touch, feeling his own flames rise to his hands, and placed a hand gently onto her own hand. They both shared an exchange of gentle flames. The woman then said, "I was afraid that someone would blame you for the mess. I did not want to see you hurt again."

"Will. Warren. Are you guys okay? You took a nice hit," Layla said, looking to both of them. She was panting after running to the group with Cris at her side.

"We're fine. What about you guys?" Will asked, looking at Layla then Cris.

"Fine, thank God," Cris responded. "Can't say the same for whoever that dragon was looking for. Luckily, it didn't go into the city."

"What was it looking for?" the Chinese woman asked.

"Don't know," Warren answered, shaking his head. "It just showed up and left."

"What did it look like?" the woman asked.

"It didn't have any arms. Big wings, teeth, gray beard, eyebeams, painful tail," Will crudely described, rubbing his shoulder at the memory of being hit by the beast.

"Nothing else?" Jetstream asked.

"Oh, it had curled horns and fins for ears on its head," Layla said, getting a reaction out of the Chinese woman. "And a half-hawk, half-man was helping it."

"This sounds like an ancient spirit," the woman said, humming in thought.

"I'm sorry," Cris interrupted, peeking her head towards the woman's beautiful face. She looked into her eyes and asked, "I don't mean to be rude, but who are you?"

"I am Warren's mother, Lu Vihn Peace. I am also known as Firefly."

"You mean you're _the_ Firefly?" Will questioned, hyperventilating. "How do you know my mom?"

"Jetstream and I used to go to college together when we were a few years younger."

"Oh, Will used to have a bit of a crush on you when he was a little boy. I remember he would ask me to get a poster of you on his wall of heroes," Jetstream started, making Will blush visibly and Warren grow angry. No one hits on his mom but his dad.

"Mom!" Will called out, trying to ease his embarassment.

"We'll let you try to finish up your date and pretend nothing happened here," Firefly said, gently pressing her warm lips against Warren's cheek. She turned to Jetstream and said, "We still have to stop Dr. Lizarthan from poisoning the riverbanks. Let's move!"

Firefly ran off into the parking lot, creating flames on her feet and hands, and then jumped high into the air. The cement where she once stood was burned and smoke lifted into the air following her. Jetstream saluted the kids and caught up to Firefly. The two heroes nodded at each other and raced to get back to stopping a villain along the coastline of Maxville.

* * *

Einrie van Helsing was dressed in a normal black button-up shirt and brown slacks as he walked through the suburbian part of Mortsunder. The French architecture of some houses inspired him to sigh at the hidden romance of the buildings. Many people thought he was simply a fool for believing there could be a love story embedded in every brick or fencing that lined the balconies of some homes. However, it was houses like these that sparked his memories of when he would sneak to his wife's house in the middle of the night just to see her after killing off a giant or werecat. She would always blush or cover her slender body with some silk robe from Paris when he tapped on her window ever so softly. Those times were gone now. Now, he could simply kiss her or caress her soft cheek while she slept. She was with him always in their home, and he never lost sight of the woman he loved. Shaking his head to erase the lovesick smiles and sighs he was producing, he walked down the quiet LaSalle neighborhood turning down Frenchman Street with his main objective replaying in his head. He had to speak to Laveau's parents about her suspension. Her parents were going to be suspicious of her sudden stay at home becoming more frequent.

Finding a reddish Spanish-styled home, Einrie smirked in another memory passing through his mind. He remembered when his friend, Fuerte Cazadora, had bought this home with his charming, tamed wife to start their new life as an engaged couple. They married a year later to cement their bond. Hearing reggae music play behind the front door, Einrie rung the doorbell a few times before standing still to wait. He hadn't realized how fast he made it to the Cazadoras' house. The door opened, waking up his thoughts and interrupting any more memories that dared passed. From the door came Mortsunder's worst enemy, Laveau, drying her hands with the front bottom of her apron.

Laveau was a rather tall woman. She cut and pressed her black hair to a reasonable length passed her shoulder blades. She had lovely, brown skin and hazel eyes and a pair of lips that used to spit out the worst curses, spells, and demon summons that could put any devil to shame. Laveau went from public enemy one to a normal housewife and mother. She was always a beautiful woman and managed to gain his old friend Fuerte's love. It was a strange affair, no less! Laveau, however, always had a temper and still does to this very day.

"Who the sweaty hell - ?" the queen of darkness started. She silenced her insults and showed genuine surprise to see the best man of her wedding standing before her. She then called out, "Einrie!"

"Delighted to see you, madam," Einrie responded, smiling. He took hold of Laveau's hand then kissed the soft, moist back of it. He asked, "Is Fuerte back yet?"

"No, he'll be here in any minute. I told him to pick up some more seasoning for my Brazilian tarantula stew," the woman explained, stepping aside to let the man in. She walked to the dining room on the left side of the door and reached a China cabinet. Pulling out a large container, she offered, "I have extra if you want to take some home."

"Mother Laveau, you are a tremendous woman," Einrie complimented, earning a bow.

Laveau had peculiar names for her dishes, but she actually does use certain things in them to make them to taste so good. Her tarantula stew no doubt had an actual tarantula in it. Why would anyone eat a spider, you ask? Well, Mortsunder is the city of the dead; meaning, the people can and usually will eat the scourges of the cemetaries or any other creepy place. Spiders were the pinnacle of the food chain. The two persons heard the front door open and turned to it to see a man come in. Fuerte Cazadora was by no means a tall man, but he was taller than most people as he stood a gracious 5'10". He was known as the "pretty one" when he was younger and attracted many women in his prime; however, he also turned many people away with his dark powers just as Einrie had. When he met Laveau, his heart was literally drawn to the woman. It is worthy to note that it could have gone the other way around. Fuerte had reddish skin like he was mixed with some Native Indian, deep brown eyes, flowing deep brown hair that cascaded in waves, a pristine nose, and relatively thin outlined lips.

"My love, where's the - ?" the man started, removing his wide-brimmed fedora hat. He stopped when he saw Einrie smiling at him.

"Fuerte," Einrie greeted, bowing in respect.

"Einrie, I didn't know you were visiting. Would you like to join us for supper?" the man offered, placing his hat on the coat rack.

"Gladly. I have something urgent to tell you. I think you'll need a bit of wine, too."

"What's wrong?" Fuerte looked over to his wife, wondering if Einrie had told her anything, but all she did was take her bowl and proceed to enter the kitchen quietly. She was known for being rather cryptic.

"It's about Faveau," Einrie answered, placing his hands behind his back.

"Property damage?"

"No, people damage," Einrie started, beckoning his friend to take a seat on the dining room table. They both sat on opposite ends of the table, sitting like cardinals pondering over who should be nominated pope, and meshed their hands together to exchange some news. Einrie continued after a brief silence, "She's got more medical bills on her record than you and me put together. I suspended her license today."

"She's suspended?" Fuerte questioned in disbelief. "I thought she was doing well. Why didn't anyone say anything to me?"

"There'll come a time in the girl's life when you won't be there to fix this sort of problem," Einrie lectured, watching his friend shake his head and take deep breaths in denial. His daughter gained such a valuable reputation! What happened to that? Van Helsing finished, "She has to face the consequences of her actions on her own. When she fights for us, she fights alone. You, of all people, should know this. I went through her files after suspending her, and I counted a reported 276 injuries in this year alone. I didn't look through the past years because she was still in training, but, if her past records were anything passed this year's record, the church will make her their worst enemy and place a bounty on her head. She already is not liked by many as it is."

"They called my daughter murderer again?"

"After the witch had lost all power and turned to a decrepid hag, yes," Einrie answered, leaning back in his chair to cross his legs. "She reported back without her usual smile or warm embraces."

"What do you wish to do about the suspension then?" Fuerte asked, feeling ultimately defeated.

"She mentioned before leaving that she'd return to school. I propose, however, she be transferred to a different school," Einrie said shrewdly, smiling. "One that has a major respect for heroes, humans, _housing_, and hospitals alike. We are used to being the enemy to our people, but we also made the best of it and learned to live through it. We had to earn this city's kindness through more than hard work. We found two of the most beautiful women to marry and raise our children with, but it was not until we were accepted as vulnerable humans just like the people we protected did we gain the rank of legendary heroes. Her blight is the same, but she is far too young to know how to handle it and she isn't just a normal human. She does have her mother's strengths and yours, even though the both of you have the option of accepting power. She was born with power. She didn't just have an option. The power that courses through your blood went to her just as Laveau's did when she gave birth."

"But that should be impossible. Our powers can be taken from us at any moment. You're saying this as if the power is part of us."

"But it is..." Einrie argued. "By blood, you have powers that have passed on from the first man in your family tree who inherited the ability to fight demons. The same goes for me. My ancestor defeated Dracula hundreds of years ago and practically founded the very teachings we study to defeat any and all demons within the Great Rift. Our powers and abilities make us far superior and dangerous to normal people. Laveau accepted the power of the snake god, Vodu, hence her voodoo powers and extensive witch-like capabilities. Only the snake god can strip her of her powers, but Vodu is a part of Laveau just like our blue blood is a part of us. Faveau carries the blue blood of your family and the mystical blood of Vodu. She has the power to wipe out cities, but she will only use them for good."

"Yet that's not enough for this city," Fuerte interjected, sighing. Faveau truly was a good daughter who had a big heart despite her hiding it.

"She is still but a bud on the briar with plenty of time to bloom. Living a regular human life without her demon associates could help her grow to appreciate the people she protects. Her disregard for the people is only a reflection of the disregard the people show her. If she learns to be a normal human, she'll protect normal humans."

"Faveau doesn't just protect _normal_ humans," Fuerte debates. "She protects the _balance_ of the conflict terrorizing all races. She is a mediator. That's what the second elder really wanted her to become. Her problem is really not protecting the humans. It's knowing who to protect and using her power to form an equilibrium of the races."

"Why did you ever deny becoming a seventh elder, my friend?" Einrie asked, smiling in understanding. His wisdom was always appreciated and recognized.

"I was getting married," Fuerte answered a tad shyly. "Plus, after the honeymoon, we went on to live normal lives away from here. We only came back because of the baby. We wanted her to live here where we met and married."

"Where did you go before you returned?" Einrie asked, plotting something in the back of his mind.

"Well, we traveled around the world for about two years. I visited family in Venezuela, Brazil, Spain; we even visited Laveau's family here in America, Egypt, the Carribean, and other parts of Africa. For a while, we stayed in Europe and developed a regard toward fashion. We commuted back and forth from Maxville when we went away," Fuerte explained, using his hands to imply back and forth travel.

"That's it!" Einrie exclaimed, startling the man in front of him.

"What?"

"Live in Maxville for a while!"

"What?" Fuerte questioned, thinking his friend is being ridiculous.

"There's a legion of heroes who start their careers in that sunny side-up hell farm. Plenty of peaceful environment and awareness for it. Kids Faveau's age might grow to like her. She can lead an absolutely normal life the way you and your pretty wife did."

Thinking of Faveau living in Maxville didn't create the best of images. She would hardly fit in with the kids there. She was already a hero by their standards in Mortsunder, and her powers were far too complex for the people there to understand. Plus, this would require everyone to lead a normal life by a long stretch. He couldn't hunt demons, Laveau couldn't secretly practice her magic or do whatever retired villains do, and Faveau would literally have to do a 180. She couldn't use her powers for any reason if she was forced to be a normal girl, but her powers come as second nature. Fuerte sighed and rubbed his temples in thought. If he moved the family to Maxville, it would have to be done soon so Faveau won't be too late to go to school. He and Laveau would have to apply for jobs and find a place to stay in the meantime. A hotel was out of the question. That could sometimes be the birthplace of many ghosts. No one wanted to be up until three in the morning, pretending not to hear the mischievous stealing your house keys and putting them in a different spot for their amusement.

"Yes, but we need time to find a home and where to gain income without hunting demons," Fuerte finally said, paling at the thought of mischievous spirits and not being able to shoot them. "Plus, Faveau may have a hard time hearing all of this. It's bad enough she was suspended, but to have to leave the city she loves is going to be difficult. She may have very few human friends here, but she does have hybrid and demon friends that she cares about."

"That's what worries me," Einrie said, gaining Fuerte's full attention. "Protecting demons is considered a treason and liability to become a villain. Her mother is one by blood, and it is possible that the reigns will pass down just as the blue blood did. Can you imagine a blue blood hunter with powers like hers becoming a villain? She may as well rule hell itself! Fuerte, she _needs_ this."

"I'll make your arrangements then," Laveau said, startling the hell out of the men. Of course, Laveau was considered one of the scariest villains because she could exist wherever she wanted much like a master vampire if he was powerful enough to know how to do that. Neither male knew how long she had been there, but she was standing there as if she had been there the entire time.

"Baby?" Fuerte questioned, somewhat used to her just appearing out of nowhere.

"The girl don't wanna be no villain. She loves this city and the people in it," Laveau said, rolling her eyes at the notion. If she turned out to be a villain, splendid; if she stayed a hero, wonderful. That didn't give anyone the right to treat her like she was a menace to society. If leaving the city is what she needs to shut everyone up, then she will be a mother and teach her daughter to be a strong woman just as she always had. She then walked over to the table with a container full of stew in her hands, placed it in front of Einrie, and said, "It's your brethren that's causing my girl trouble. She wants to protect all of the people as equals so let her learn how to do it. Fuerte, you told me that hurting others because you're hurt does not ease your pain. It magnifies it because you're not just hurt but you're guilty. When you don't know a way to ease your guilt, you cause more pain thinking it will mask your own. My child still protects and still tries even when she is in pain."

"Did you know that your eyes turn into the softest brown when you speak so passionately?" Fuerte asks, smiling and taking her hand to kiss her warm fingers. This sparked Laveau's sexual interest as she sighed from the gesture.

Not wanting to see his friend get busy and ruin his bowl of fresh soup, Einrie said, "Before you go making Faveau a big sister, what do you think of my proposal?"

"I won't have her lose faith," Laveau responded, peeling her hand away from her husband. "Fuerte and I still have a normal life outside of Mortsunder to gain money. We just need to find a home."

"What life, my queen?" Fuerte inquired.

"Darling, we still have our shoppe in Maxville that's been closed out since we left to care for the baby. Faveau models and we even opened a chain outlet here. We'll just close out our shoppe, take the money we have from our small business, and open up shop again. We can call for a real estate agent tonight or tomorrow morning to see about our staying in Maxville."

"Well, how long are we supposed to be away from the city, though?" Fuerte asked, turning to Einrie.

"Preferrably until she graduates from school."

"Three years?" Fuerte shouted more than questioned.

"_Unless_ we need her to go on active duty again. She'll just be living in Maxville until graduation. She won't lose her job. While she's staying there, perhaps her outlook here will change overtime."

* * *

In the Strongholds' residence, Josie deMarco-Stronghold was busying herself with breakfast as the sun rose higher, lighting the kitchen and den, for the morning to start. She had to finish filing her reports for real estate sales and that usually ate up a few hours. Luckily, it was her day off. As she poured beat eggs into a skillet, she spotted the time to see it was 7:30. In about thirty more minutes, she was open for business. Later on, though, Will was going to leave around eleven to hang out with his friends and girlfriend, Layla. Oh, it was so sweet! It felt like it was only yesterday when the two used to play in the wadding pool. Now, they were dating! They were falling in love with each other right underneath her nose!

Footsteps were heard lumbering down the stairs. Josie turned to see her husband, Steve, yawning and scratching his chest like a woken bear. Josie giggled at the sight a bit, wondering if it would make Steve feel bad if she put a fresh fish in his mouth. He walked over to the couch in the den, waiting for the breakfast to be ready, and turned on the television to watch the news. It was his day off, too, and he planned to make use of it by being a lazy bum. What's the world coming to when one of the greatest heroes of Maxville actually relaxes on his day off rather than trains? Josie just shook her head and heard clanking upstairs. She furrowed her eyebrows a bit, hearing a little bit of music play also.

"Steve?" she called.

"He's just lifting weights, honey. Says he wants to build his strength in case he has to take our place on our day-off," Steve answered, quite proud of their son. Will was lifting weights upstairs, reason for the clanking of metal sounding in the distance.

_Ah, so he didn't tell him about the dragon incident yet_, Josie thought.

"Speaking of day-offs, why are you dressed like you're going to work?"

"Because I _am_ going to work. I have to file my sales report at the firm. Once that's done, it'll be a weekend at home with my special someone," Josie said cutely, batting her eyelashes and smiling.

"I'm not complaining to that," Steve said, smirking mischievously.

A cellphone rang, gaining both heroes attention, but Josie saw that it was her business phone this time. She sighed before smiling to answer the phone with a cheerful, "Hello, this is Josie Stronghold... Oh, what a beautiful name! It sounds like royalty... Oh, you're really a queen? Wow. Yes, I'm available for Monday at nine... Great! How can I help you, Ms. Cazadora?"

"Cazadora?" Steve questioned silently to himself, never having heard of that name belonging to a queen. Then again, he never cared much for royalty.

"Oh, you want to open up a business...? And buy a home...? How long was it closed down? Sixteen years! Well, I'll see what I can do. That's a long time. What did you sell at your business...? What?"

Steve turned to his wife, hearing pure shock in her voice, and walked towards her to see her face. She was flabbergasted! He shook her shoulders a little to get a reaction out of her then called her softly, "Josie, what's wrong?"

"I see," Josie responded, smiling again though it hardly had the same energy as when she answered the call. "I'll search for a house close enough to your shop's location with four bedrooms to accomodate your family... Pleasure doing business with you, Ms. Cazadora... No, thank you."

"Josie, what happened?" Steve asked, looking concerned with his now silent wife.

Josie turned to her husband and said, "We need to see the mayor."

"Now?" Steve questioned.

* * *

"Please, Warren, please..." Layla begged, pouting her lips in the cutest way she could.

"How did you find my house?" Warren questioned with a shout in his tone.

Will wasn't about to answer the question as he stood several feet away from his best friend, who evidently was trying to think whether or not roasting Layla was the solution to his problem, and only waited until fire started appearing on Warren's hands to react. Thankfully, no flames started spewing from the older teen's body. Ethan was standing next to Will, wondering how Will even knew where Warren lived, and wanted to know if this plan of his would actually work.

Since the double date with Warren, Layla and Magenta were talking about finding a girlfriend for Ethan. He was literally the only one in their group without a date to join them on double dates. Not that it was sad because in all honesty it was, but they were sure he was tired of hearing how bad or how good the dates ended up being from the guys. Boys don't usually go to girls for gossip and the like. Plus, there weren't enough girls in the group to gossip with. Not that Freeze Girl, or Cris Haxel, wasn't a great friend, but she embarassed them a lot when they were on double dates like with Layla and Will on his tongue burn. That and she was painfully honest about things.

Wednesday night, after their adventurous double date with flameboy and his icy lady, Layla started thinking about Ethan and wondered what he was doing on his nights alone. She called Magenta and found out that he usually stays home, reading about meditation and the scientific reasoning behind melting, or hangs out with her and Zach. Layla, not wanting to know the pure torture they were experiencing, decided to form a plan with Magenta.

They needed someone with a little expertise in dating to show Ethan the ropes, someone who was already dating, and someone good enough to be emotional support to help Ethan out a bit. They, at first, thought Zach would be good enough to do emotional support and show him how to behave like a proper boyfriend, but this is Zach we're talking about. He already tries to be a different personality while hiding some of his opinions. He was out. Will was actually very good with dating because he was always sweet, but the emotional support thing was questionable. They tried their luck with Will as the someone who was dating. That left Warren to be either the dating expert or emotional support. God knows he can't do dating expert since he didn't actually start dating until homecoming! Layla was actually the one who recommended Warren as emotional support because he helped her with Will, so he ended up being the emotional support. That left one of them to be the dating expert. Magenta ruled herself out point-blank because she was dating Zach and didn't start dating or know about dating until she was Zach's girlfriend. Layla wanted to rule herself out because she wasn't an expert in any way, but she at least knew what she wanted in her boyfriend which is how she fell in love with Will. That's how she became the expert.

With their idea a secret, Layla decided to tell Will about it. He actually agreed to it! Of course, it was mainly to see what would happen with Warren as emotional support. That seemed like a priceless joke waiting to be told to an audience somewhere in a comedy club. The issue now was getting Ethan and Warren to go along with the idea. Ethan was nice, but he won't usually admit to his problems openly. Warren is a hothead, literally, so no hope there. After Layla told him about the plan, Will did a bit of stalking, which was relatively easy since he could fly, and followed Warren to his house last night to clarify his address. Of course, he almost got caught in the process by Warren's mother, Firefly. So now, here they are at his doorstep asking if he would go to the mall with them.

"U-u-um, Mr. Peace, sir," Ethan called, earning Warren's attention away from the pouting Layla. "They just showed up at my house, too. We have something in common."

"I will make sure you evaporate in the sky, meat puddle!" Warren threatened, hearing footsteps behind him.

"Warren just go with your friends. They want to be around you," his mother said, earning a groan from the teen.

"Aya!" Warren complained, saying something in Chinese.

A scream and then some more Chinese was exchanged before Warren shoved Layla to the side and shouted, "Duck!"

He hit the ground, hoping Will or Ethan heard him, feeling a large ball of fire shoot through the front door along his back. Will and Ethan saw the fireball hurdling towards them and jumped to either side of it to get out of the way. The ball struck a fire hydrant across the street, causing water to emerge from the ground like a gushing geyser, and stunned all of the teens from the impact with exception to Warren.

"Dude, what did you say?" Will questioned.

"None of your business!" Warren argued in a whispering tone.

"Warren..." his mother hissed.

"Fine, I'll come to the stupid mall!" Warren resignedly shouted. "Hippie, can you do something with the hydrant before the fire department shows up?"

* * *

"You have got to be friggin kidding me..." Warren growled.

The group were in front of the Bryan Dalton Centre's doors just staring at the cars passing them and some of the people staring at them. Of course, some of the girls going into the mall were talking about how cute Warren was which was understandable, but they were also talking about how weird Ethan dressed standing next to him. Warren was dressed in colors no one expected him to wear: yellow and white. He wore a hooded yellow jacket, though it still had his signature flames and red skulls on each shoulder, white short-sleeved shirt, and faded black jeans with yellow steel-toe boots. Ethan was wearing an orange-striped shirt with two-sizes-too-big jeans on, and black tennis shoes. He also carried a light backpack. Will and Layla were dressed in their usual attire and color palette: a regular colored t-shirt and some jeans with comfortable shoes. They were going to be walking for a long time to get this plan in motion. Granted, Warren didn't start fuming literally.

"Come on, Warren, it won't be that bad," Layla tried.

"Like hell it won't," he snapped back.

"Why are we here anyway?" Ethan asked. "You never told us why we were coming to the mall."

"Well..." Layla started, noticing a heated gaze warming her neck. "Okay, okay!"

"Layla and Magenta want to help you find a girlfriend," Will answered hurriedly.

"I'm going home," Warren remarked, turning to leave.

"Alright, but if you do I'll just have to keep calling you about that dreadful piece of advice... all night long," Layla threatened, stopping Warren from walking any further.

"Advice? What kind of advice?" Will questioned, looking from his best friend to his girlfriend.

"What kind of advice indeed," she then said, folding her arms.

"Oh, fine!" Warren shouted, resignedly. "Let's just get this over with. I'm missing American Chopper."

"Alright, Ethan, so tell us what you want in a girl," Layla started, pulling Ethan into the mall to follow Warren while Will followed her.

"Well, the complete opposite of me? For balance?" Ethan said in the form of a question for approval or reassurance at the least.

"We are going to be in here for a _month_..." Warren complained, walking into the first store to his left. There were a number of girls hustling for good deals and trying on different things. He then commanded, "Look in here and see what you like."

Ethan heeded Warren's words and walked into the store away from him. He was happy that Layla decided to follow him because he was too confused. So much pink and shiny stuff! He didn't catch the name of the store, but he could easily tell it was far too feminine to be a spot for men and women. Of course, those of questionable preferences were shopping here, too. He looked around to find something of particular interest besides pink and saw a relatively young girl around his age. She was fairly tall and had long blonde hair and green eyes. She had a bright smile, too, but seemed very shy. Two shy people wouldn't have much for conversation or physical contact. There wouldn't be much balance, but he did like her in a way.

"So, see anyone?" Layla asked after picking out a yellow dress with splashes of green leaves along the bottom where the yellow roses were.

"Um, her?" Ethan said, nodding towards a girl.

"Oh, she's pretty," Layla complimented. Ethan had pretty good taste in women; the girl was beautiful! She then said, "Well, how about you go talk to her?"

"I-I-I really don't want to. Well, I mean, she's pretty and seems nice, but she's just as shy as I am. We wouldn't be able to look at each other."

"Well, what drew you to her besides being pretty?"

"Her...height? She's about 5'8" from where I am. Our heights cancel each other out. We share that sort of balance," Ethan said, watching Layla shake her head then drag him out of the store.

Will and Warren stood up from their seats on the bench in the middle of the mall, seeing Layla a little frustrated and pulling Ethan behind her. Will stuffed his hands in his pockets then rocked back and forth on his heels like a curious child. He then asked, "So what happened?"

"Grab a sleeping bag," Layla warned, watching Warren toss his head back with an 'I told you so' sigh.

"Did he say something about the balance thing?" Will asked, watching Ethan peel his hand away from Layla.

"He likes taller girls because they balance out his shortness, and he doesn't want them to be too shy because they won't be able to talk to each other. So I've got tall girls with an open personality out of him," Layla informed.

"You're gonna have to take over from here," Warren said. "I don't know where you would find the most tall girls in a mall."

"How about you don't? Why do you want someone to balance you out?" Will asked, looking into Ethan's eyes.

"Then I'll know it's a perfect match," Ethan said simply, blinking as if it were obvious. The groans he got from Warren made it not so apparent, though. He sighed then explained, "Well, in the chemistry books I've been reading, they said that melting occurs when a substance transitions from a solid state to a liquid state after applying a massive or relatively small amount of heat. Take ice, for example. It melts at a certain rate at room temperature which we can live and breath in. Room temperature is 77 degrees Farrenheit, which is enough to melt ice. I can melt in whatever temperature I chose, which to me is really cool but to everyone else it's useless. My ability to melt is a result of my thinking to become like water according to Chinese studies. In a way, my real superpower should be the ability to manipulate water. I just so happen to know one of the processes to change water."

"That has everything to do with you and dating because?" Warren prompted.

"Where do I start?" Ethan asked, looking directly at Warren. "You're one of the best-looking guys in Sky High and your power is awesome! There's a bunch of kids who want to control fire, and you're the lucky bastard who gets to do it on impulse. Besides that, even if you weren't a super, you're still cool. You can speak fluent Chinese. I was barely passing French in middle school! You even have a relationship with a perfect balance: your fire and Ms. Haxel's ice. Even you, Will. You're pretty good-looking and you have two powers. You're a third generation super! With your strength and speed comes a price, though. Your strength can destroy if you're not careful, and your speed can disrupt radio signals if you fly too fast. You have Layla. She's gentle and appreciates the natural process of life. Perfect balance. All I do is turn into a meat puddle. I dress weird and I get bullied all the time. Plus, I'm short and shy. I just want my own balance the way you guys have yours..."

"Whoa, that's pretty deep..." Will commented, scratching his cheek. Didn't see this answer coming.

"Dammit, now I want to get you a girlfriend even more!" Layla complained, stomping her foot and folding her arms while pouting.

"Where's the damn store that sells mattresses?" Warren complained, walking away from the group. He was hiding it from the group, but he actually was genuinely touched by Ethan's words. They were very poetic and made a ton of sense. There had to be at least one girl who would like him for who he was and not because of his power.


	3. Chapter 3

Mortsunder, the city that carries a balance between the living and the undead, was going to be left alone for three whole years. Faveau seated herself atop one of the posts of the Vierge Mere bell tower overlooking the city between two crumbling marble gargoyle statues. The bell tower had rather intricate designs for its architecture. Crosses with curved branches and rose-petal tips dressed the mosaic windows as a form of border. Images of the Last Supper, Saint John, and the Virgin Mother Mary were looking everywhere and nowhere as the sun dimmed out their bright colors. The rustic bell that rung every hour only swung with the soft, summer wind as it passed through the breezeways at the top of the tower. This is where Faveau normally stayed to think or just be alone. Of course, there were people who lived here in the tower. She made sure never to disturb them, but they always seemed to know when she was there.

The sun glowed with a cold warmth as if confessing that it never liked her just as the people it shined on. She merely sighed at this, feeling her heart pull at her chest. She wasn't going to ever see this beautiful city again. It would all be a distant memory to her. She wouldn't be able to walk the streets in the morning in her Victorian-styled sundresses or shoes or catch the streetcar to the parks next to the lake. No more feeding of the alligator gars or ducks that traveled the ponds of Brookfield Park. She wouldn't even be able to recite poems of the city's iridescent beauty during the sunsets on the bell tower she loved so much. The gargoyles would never see her again. She wouldn't hear their stony, hoarse voices after awakening from their slumber. No more card games or simply joking with them as the night was young. Even her friends in the undead district would be greatly missed. All the things she used to do were now being taken from her.

Faveau curled up into a little ball, sniffing up a few tears threatening to fall, and looked at her gargoylian pocketwatch. It was given to her by her friends, resting along the walls of the bell tower for saving them from a Jechyde, or giant as a result of careless experimenting derived from the efforts of the talented yet crazed Dr. Jeckyll, who, at night, would turn into Hyde. The Jechydes found gargoyle meat to be rather tasty just as they did for infant flesh. She also, however, gained the powers of the gargoyles by defeating their vampire-possessed lord in a wintry battle of wits. Whenever she visits the bell tower, she assumes her gargoyle form.

As such, she clutched her knees to brace herself for the pain of sprouting wings from her back and breathed evenly to reduce the shock. Abruptly, her rib bones fractured and broke to make way for the stony bones forming through dark magic and collection of the broken rib bone pieces. The sharp stakes of stony bones then emerged from her back, taking muscle, skin, and fresh blood to form the base of the wings so feathers could grow. The white turtle doves that formed nests in the tower were startled awake and flew out of the tower, leaving molten feathers behind. Feathers that grew out to form sharper ones and attach themselves to the gargoyle wing frame. Within moments, angelic and antique-like wings formed and surrounded her to create a protective barrier. Looking up from her precious pocketwatch, Faveau looked upon her beautiful city with her now glowing eyes in sadness. She then recited a poem made by a French painter and novelist who visited the city for some inspiration to create his next few masterpieces for a gallery in his city.

**He looks upon Her face**

**A rosy hue**

**And lights Her cheeks with shining Grace**

**The turtle doves flutter**

**Like Her eyelashes whilst they protect Her gentle sights**

**Fore the night is young**

**The bell tolls as Her life is just beginning**

**Pon the hour**

**When dusk begins anew**

**His gentle caresses touch Her maiden hand**

**To produce the finer silk of romantic iridescence **

**In Her smile**

**The smile of purity as the Virgin Mother blesses Her **

**May Her children forever be**

**In peace as they walk the busy streets**

"Amen," a voice said, startling her as she snapped her around.

It was Einrie van Helsing, dressed in a red button-up shirt and black slacks. He let his gray hair fall in his face today to cover one of his eyes. His true age also hidden because of it. He smiled at his student, and, as he walked toward the arched breezeway connected to the balcony next to her, caught a loose dove feather that fell like snow. He turned his back to let the sun warm it and tilted his head back while turning it slightly to look upon the city from above. The summer breeze carried a light playfulness from him and carried it away to the city to share in his mood. Of course, Einrie always had plenty of playful energy in his system despite his age.

He asked, "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Summer is almost gone," Faveau responded, looking in the sky to see the seagulls passing through.

"You spent most of it revisiting all the places you would miss most. Here, especially," he said, turning to look at her but not quite making eye contact. "I hear from the nuns they seem to see an angel looking down on them. Its white wings glow with the moon's translucent glow. They would whisper soft prayers to it for protection and wisdom."

"I am no such creature," Faveau stated, eyes glowing with a despondent hue. "The only prayers I receive are ones of eternal silence or a world where I don't cause trouble or exist."

"You can be a protector in the eyes of the Lord someday," Einrie corrected. "You only need to keep your faith."

"I'm almost out of faith, sir. I only pray for peace and some sort of kindness as I leave this place. Patience has been top of the list ever since I started this job. I'm close to running out of that, too," Faveau remarked, rising to her feet. Her wings spread out in their full span, flapped softly, and then curled around her. She continued, "I also pray for the city's peace while I am gone. Maybe they will have truly quiet nights for the first time. Nothing will harm it. No vampires, witches, werewolves, satyres, sirens, or even Jechydes will terrorize this place ever again. The city has you and papi to protect it the right way. No one will lose their home or their job... Just me..." she whispered, breath hitching as tears began to fall. She whispered out, "It's always me...!"

Einrie looked at her and almost began to cry himself. He was once like that. Treated so terribly that the only escape was leaving was once his downfall. He, too, cried thinking everything was his fault. For this reason, Einrie hopped onto the balcony's railing, walked close to Faveau, took hold of her hand to pull her away, and embraced her in his arms for comfort. He then questioned his own decision to punish her for what she had done. No one died except the person the church wanted to be dead, but there was that other stupid option of bringing the witch back alive for detainment and conversion to Christianity. That was always a problem with the Cite Legion, no matter who was the hunter. However, the results of her mission wasn't the only problem. The girl was becoming desensitized. Soon, she would have no regard for the people she tries so hard to protect. She would feel no sympathy or remorse for these mortals who fear their own protectors, and that would be a great problem in the long run.

_She can't become a villain, Einrie_, he tried to convince himself. _She can't become a villain..._

* * *

Summer ended so much faster than anyone would have liked. School was starting today in the glorious month of September, and no one loved studying more than the students at Sky High! Yeah, right. Maxville was beginning its life in the busiest time of the year. Now that school started again, parents all around were trying to get their kids on the right track and were managing their schedules in an orderly fashion to take off for holidays and the like. Ethan was standing at his bus stop, waiting for Ron Wilson to pull up, and thought about how his summer was spent with his friends and family. His father was a scientist in a major corporation who studied fluids, so he was proud when he heard that his son was studying chemisty over the summer to learn about fluids as well. He even brought him to his company building to show him what they did with certain fluids to understand the characteristics and beneficial properties of them like with lubricants and vehicular engine blocks. His mother, of course, was a super and tried to teach him how to hone his powers now that he was in hero class this year. He couldn't wait! He might even find a girlfriend in his new class!

Which brought him to fond memories of his friends trying to help him find a girlfriend over the summer. Not that he minded their help because they did try to understand him, even Warren Peace, who everyone knows is a complex individual on his own, and it was truly an honor to have them all care about him. However, Ethan would much prefer to look for his own true love; preferrably, one that completes him and creates a balance in his life. He knew there was someone out there waiting for him to find her. He just had to keep an eye out. Seeing the bus pull up, Ethan smirked a bit as it stopped in front of him and opened its doors in a welcoming greeting. Ron smiled at him and greeted him kindly.

"Welcome aboard, Ethan Steward."

"Hey, Ron!" Ethan greeted, shaking the bus driver's hand.

Ethan took his usual seat to the front where Zach was seated for the first time ever in life, but he reasoned it was because Magenta's house was the next stop and she usually sat in the front because there was too much excitement and happiness in the back that it was sickening. That's when Ethan proved a point in his own mind. Zach's optimism and Maj's pessimism canceled each other out and created an enviable couple. She toned him down and he picked her spirits up. Perfect balance!

Ethan shook his head at this and sat in the seat in front of Zach's while saying, "Hey, Zach, how was your double date last weekend?"

"Dude, Warren gave me the biggest cockblock on our date," Zach said, capturing Ethan's interest fully. What did the flamehead do this time to get on his nerves? Zach continued, "See, the first half of the date. Completely quiet, only the girls were talking. I'm cool with that. Then, out of nowhere, he starts kissin' on his little icy lady. I'm feelin' a bit down, so I give Maj the eye like she knows what I'm feelin'. Doesn't catch my drift and just leaves me hangin'. Next half of the date, Maj wants me to walk her home instead of catch a ride with flamehead and frostbite. Cool, I go. What's Warren do? Tells us not to makeout while her dad's still alive or close by and out of nowhere - BOOM! Dad's drivin' up the street gettin' some takeout for the misses."

Ethan had to fight the laughter about to burst from his diaphragm, but it was getting extremely difficult. That had to be the most awkward moment for the poor man! He was sure Warren didn't mean to say that out loud and didn't even know his dad was there, but you can never predict anything dealing with Warren. He's the only friend in the bunch who can read into your soul while still keeping walls of stone castle proportions protecting his own soul.

"So...did you kiss...her?" Ethan asked, wondering if maybe Warren was just teasing him because they literally haven't kissed yet or picked an awkward time to try.

"Nope," Zach answered, looking out of the window. "But it'll happen this year or so help me Lord I'm gonna go insane and live in a dark room for the rest of my life."

"Don't get yourself down, dude," Ethan said, cheering him up. "I think Maj knows the right time to do certain things. Last year at homecoming, she initiated the dance between you two. She even asked you out when you stumbled over your own words to ask her out. Just give it time and always stay positive. You'll find your perfect moment, for sure!"

"Yeah. Hey, you know what, you're right!" Zach cheered, feeling pumped up. "It'll happen for sure. No Warren, no Cris, hell no double date! It'll just be us and our sweet moment."

"Right!" Ethan said, feeling the bus slow down to a stop. He turned to Zach and said, "Hey, Maj's coming, act natural."

Ethan and Zach pretended they never had their discussion and simply spoke about something else that was completely unrelated to dating or kissing. Magenta sat next to Zach and was particularly quiet along the journey to the next stop. Although, she did greet them as they spoke about things only guys would really care about.

* * *

Fuerte Cazadora was busying himself with his Latin music as he cooked something a little special for his beautiful wife, Laveau, who was dealing with their real estate agent, Josie deMarco-Stronghold to get their shop back under their ownership. He would cook something for his daughter, Faveau, but the rinsed and dried dishes in the sink were clue enough that she had woken up earlier to cook something to eat. She was probably getting dressed or packing her bookbag as he danced a little and sung along to the song. Speak of the devil, his baby girl came downstairs in what sounded like a pair of heels or some type of heeled shoe. He had to watch the pancakes and eggs at the same time, so he couldn't quite turn away from the items yet.

"Buenos dias, papi," Faveau said, hugging her father from behind.

Fuerte turned to see her annoyed face before kissing her cheek and smiling at her. He figured she was still upset about having to move away from Mortsunder two and a half weeks ago because all of her stuff wasn't in her new home yet; neither was her money from working on active duty. That and she would have to acquaint herself with new people, places, and policies. When they first came to Maxville as a family, the very first thing she complained about was the bloody sunshine of the city. Maxville was a lot brighter and more industrial than Mortsunder, who still used horses and carriages to travel around, but the people were also plain humans. There were no demons of any form in the city, and that sort of unnerved her. She was used to seeing ghosts or master vampires travel during the day. Sometimes, she would catch werewolves or some other beast take human form during the day, but she was never bothered by it because it was normal. There were no old abandoned places in Maxville that she could simply investigate for wavering souls or the undead. She had to work with what was there.

He turned to the food, putting items on two separate plates, and heard his daughter walking over to the table. He had forgotten that she left her blood-orange juice on the table. He shook his head at the thought of leaving perfectly good juice on the table to warm then said, "First day of school, mi princesa."

"Yes, daddy," the girl answered, finishing her drink then rinsing the glass out.

Fuerte turned to see his daughter's profile and noticed something terribly off. She was wearing a school girl's uniform. It didn't look bad per se, but the school that she was being enrolled in didn't have a uniform code. Her black suit jacket had gray plaid skulls on the pockets that matched her gray plaid skirt and earrings which were also skulls. She wore black eyeshadow and maroon lipstick makeup-wise, and her hair was probably curled up and tied in a high ponytail by her mother. She also wore knee-high black socks that had lace at the top with black miniature heeled boots. He hoped she was wearing shorts under the skirt, but he really had no need to worry about boys. Faveau was an excellent fighter in close combat and seldomly showed fear to any human.

"Why do you have that on? There are no uniforms at Sky High," he stated, wondering what his wife was thinking.

"Mommy doesn't want me to get in trouble with boys on my first day, so I have the variation of the school girl uniform," Faveau answered, smiling sarcastically. She proceeded to emphasize her excitement with her favorite catch phrase, "Fantasmic."

"Ah, I forgot about that," Fuerte said. He did forget that the boys in Sky High had superpowers, but he still didn't worry. The only time he'd have to worry would probably be if a vampire was in the school. He then advised, "Well, try to be easy on the other kids. They might have superpowers, but they don't have your battle skills or your Mortes Arts."

"Yes, daddy."

"Did you get your daily reading from your mother while you were getting dressed?" Fuerte asked, letting his accent slip.

"Si, papi," Faveau responded with an equal hint of Spanish accent slipping up. "She said today I will have a bad start but to look forward to a nice dinner. There will be two men in my life who will become a potential suitor in my future. It will not be apparent as to who."

"Ah, true love is closer than you think," Fuerte said, encouraging some sort of curiosity from the girl. He did manage to get a smile from her along with some coloring in her cheeks.

"She said potential not permanent, papi."

"I don't know. I think you should take your chocolate pepper skull for safety measures. Oh, your lunch!" Fuerte said, walking to the refrigerator and opening it. He pulled out a black bag and said, "Your mommy packed something for you last night. She said it will brighten your day just a bit to get through the bad luck coming."

"Faveau!" a voice called, alerting the two.

"Yes, ma'am?" the girl asked, making sure to listen to her mother. The benefit of having a supervillain parent was their way of disciplining their children. You never have to worry about them not listening to you.

"Bring your umbrella. Storm's coming."

"Yes, mommy," Faveau responded, rolling her eyes and looking for her umbrella in the utility closet. She found it, walked to her father to get her lunch, and said with a sarcastically enthusiastic wave, "Bye, daddy."

"Have a good day, sport," Fuerte called, watching his daughter leave the house with her umbrella.

* * *

Faveau closed the door behind her, hoping that it wouldn't rain until the bus showed up, and walked up to her stop. There were a lot of trees providing shade for her stop, but there were also a lot of birds chirping above her. Within seconds of noticing the birds, several of them took off from their branch and pooped on her bookbag. She didn't have any tissue in her bag, so she opened her backpack - completely disgusted - and took out a random notebook to tear a page out and wipe the poop off. When she looked at the page, she noticed that it was the love letter given to her by her first crush and vampire friend! She took the wrong notebook for her notes out of the house. Luckily, there was a trashcan nearby so she simply threw the paper, feeling a part of her soul going with it. However, it came rushing back when a squirrel jumped out of the can and onto the stop sign. It climbed all the way to the top then ripped the paper apart, possibly thinking it was a wrapper to a candy bar or bag of chips. It wasn't long after she watched the squirrel destroy the love note that heavy rain drops started to fall. She felt one hit her head then looked up to see more falling down. Evidently, it wasn't going to just rain a bit; it was going to storm like hell!

Faveau opened her transparent dome umbrella and began her beginnings of a bad day chant, "I hate life. Life sucks. Rain sucks. Mother Nature sucks." Abruptly, a flash of light lit the sky and thunder followed afterwards. She proceeded to yell out to the storm clouds, "Suck a fat one, Zeus!"

The heavy raindrops began to come down more frequently, not making Faveau feel any better about her day, and occasionally a light thunder would sound in the distance. She checked her gargoylian pocketwatch to make sure she wouldn't have to wait long for the bus and looked ahead of her to see a guy making a hand gesture that was saying 'Call me.' The boy was waiting on his mother to drop him off at school, so he dropped his basketball to flirt with her. Feeling frisky, Faveau decided to play his game and do something absolutely scrumptious to her inner demons.

She reached inside her corridor of power to pick out an ability that would confuse and embarass the boy making different gestures at her like blowing kisses and giving her the eye. She found the perfect one, concentrated her telekinetic power, and focused her attention on the forgotten basketball. She smiled at the boy and watched as his own basketball smashed him in the back of the head and made him fall on the car. The impact his body created caused the car alarm to go off and made her chuckle a bit and shake her head. She lost interest in his mother fussing at him and closed off her powers to portray a normal girl. Only her day decided to get better by having the wind pick up and blow in random directions to throw rain around. What was that saying? One good turn deserves another?

"Great, it's windy," Faveau growled. "I hate windy thunderstorms. I hate packing away important weatherproof clothes. I hate cold, windy thunderstorms! Where's the damn bus?"

Suddenly, a plop caught her attention. She looked down to see her bag having fallen over and her notebooks and loose paper tumbling out just a little. She forgot to close the bag when it started to rain! Rolling her eyes and letting out a sigh, she began letting out curses and almost let her power slip out. She managed to control her anger and her power slip when she saw none of things were really damaged from the water. She sighed in relief of this then noticed a yellow bus coming towards her. She waited until the vehicle stopped in front of her then watched as the doors opened.

"Hello, welcome aboard! Nice umbrella."

Faveau hardly found the bus driver's smile or enthusiasm amusing in any way and simply boarded the bus. She turned to him, feeling something was off, and said, "Thank you, sir."

"Your welcome. Have a seat, please," the driver said.

Faveau nodded to him as an acknowledgement then picked a seat toward the middle of the bus. She took out her MP4 Sansa Fuse player, turned it on, and then listened to some nice heavy metal music to alleviate her rotten mood. Zach and Magenta turned to the girl, not recognizing her in their sophomore class, and thought that maybe she was a freshman. She certainly didn't carry herself that way, but she wasn't a familiar face like some of the other kids on the bus either.

"Hey, we got a new girl coming to our school?" Zach asked, watching the unnamed super read through her notebook while keeping her ears plugged up. She was going to have a rude awakening when she realized reading to pass the time was useless.

"Gee, so glad you noticed," Magenta responded.

"She's so hot," Ethan complimented, making the couple snap their heads around. He was literally staring at the girl as she minded her own business. To him, she was perfection: beautiful, polite, artsy, independent, probably smart as all get-out, and tall. He wasn't even interested in the world around him. He just gazed at the new girl's delicate features and style and sighed.

"Uh, hello, 'nother girl around your vicinity," Magenta said, waving a hand in front of his face. Zach tried snapping his fingers but no luck, just a bunch of hearts swiveling out of his eyes.

"What other girl?" a familiar voice said.

The couple looked up to see Will and Layla smiling at them and waving a bit. Layla decided to sit next to Ethan since there was an extra spot, and Will went ahead and sat in the seat behind Magenta.

"Hey, Will. Hey, Layla," Zach greeted, shaking Will's hand for a brief moment lest he wanted a cast on his hand for weeks. "How was the movie?"

"Chick flick," Will responded.

"It was for a good cause," Magenta said sarcastically, noting that she herself hated chick flicks. "How'd it go with Warren and his new date?"

"It was for a good cause," Will repeated, smiling at his clever retort and earning a smile out of Magenta.

"What? I thought he liked Freeze Girl," Zach said, wondering how kissing her in front of him was different from watching a chick flick with Will.

"He does. They're officially an open couple starting today," Will announced. "It's just... Layla can't pick the movie for the next double date."

"Well, if Ethan's lucky, he might get a girlfriend to go on a double date with us," Magenta announced.

"Really?" Layla questioned, looking at Ethan but only seeing him staring at someone and sighing. She turned to Magenta and Zach, hoping they could explain his behavior and said, "That's great! Who's he seeing?"

"You mean who's he drooling for?" Magenta corrected.

"That girl in the black and white's been flicking through her MP4 since she got on the bus," Zach said, nodding at the girl. "Never took a glance this way to even notice my man's existence. He's gotta long wait coming if he thinks he's getting with that girl."

"She seems ordinary to me," Layla said, matching up Ethan's 'perfect balance' thing with the girl and seeing some possibilities. "Has anyone tried talking to her?"

"Uh, she doesn't seem very approachable at the moment," Magenta remarked.

"If you just sit here and watch her, she never will be. I'm sure she'll warm up if you get to know her."

"Then, you'll be my ambassador?" Ethan asked, snapping out of his daze and startling the group. "Please, Will, please. I'll do anything you want. Please, just tell her I said hello."

"Ethan, c'mon. You'd be better doing this yourself," Will tried, but everyone wanted him to help Ethan since he was a little too lovestruck and weird to approach the girl right now.

He rolled his eyes then mumbled something incoherent before moving to sit next to the girl for the rest of the ride to school. She hardly took notice to him as she closed her notebook for privacy reasons and turned it over so the title couldn't be read. He had to admit that she was pretty, but his heart was with Layla and this was for Ethan. He cleared his throat loudly, earning a couple of looks from the other students, and then tapped her shoulder. The girl turned to him and took out her earplugs to listen to him.

"Hi, are you new at Sky High?" Will asks, smiling a bit.

The girl furrowed her eyebrows a bit then said, "There is nothing about this situation that doesn't make me want to gut someone's entrails out and throw them out of the window with an honest to heaven smile on my face. If you value your insides, you will leave me alone and not ask me another question about life, the weather, or why I'm here to begin with. Should you ask me a question related to these topics, I will carve you like a pumpkin on Halloween night and create the most obscene graffiti on the walls with your very blood."

Feeling a sense of dejavu and complete fear of the aura spewing from the girl's body, Will settled with saying, "Okay, nice talking to you."

_I know I'm supposed to be an ambassador for Ethan, but... she reminds me of Warren when we first spoke to each other. He didn't mention anything about my insides like that, but she definitely has that tough attitude, _Will thought.


	4. Chapter 4

The ride to Sky High was genuinely short and boring for Will as he sat next to the new girl in complete silence. Even when Ron went off-road, she remained composed and just looked out of the window with a sad look in her face. Of course, being a guy, Will took notice to her suddle beauties as he glanced at her from time to time. Ethan was right; she was a pretty girl. With makeup, he could outline her sensual lips and trace the curl in her long eyelashes. He hair was curled nicely, too. It flowed in waves as the wind picked it up and tossed it about. It made her look so ethereal. As the bus sailed through the air, she would occasionally breathe on the window and write or draw disturbing things like a guillotine or pumpkin with fangs which became a bit of a turn-off. When they finally were able to see the campus, she wiped her sinister creations off the surface and looked at the school. Will thought she was finally going to say something when she turned and sighed, but she instead brought her backpack closer to her chest and closed her eyes. She looked really upset.

"Um, I don't wanna get my insides torn out, but...um, are you...scared?" Will asked in a whispering tone.

The bus jerked to the right side, making Faveau bump her head on the window, and then landed harshly with a bounce. Faveau put a hand on her hand as it pulsed from the impact and silently let out a look of instantaneous pain. Ron apologized to the kids and then waited as all the kids left off the bus. Faveau was last to leave, even when Will tried to stay to get an answer from her. She never responded to his question. In truth, Faveau wasn't scared of anything related to Sky High. She just missed her old friends and the old atmosphere at Saint John Academy in Mortsunder. She didn't have to ride the bus just to get to some school in the sky. All she had to do was walk or wait for one of her friends to come get her so they could enjoy their walk to school together. However, riding a flying bus was pretty cool, and it was jet-powered which was new. The buses that she rode were powered by magic rather than biofuels. Then again, the last time she rode a bus was when she was going to Santa Maria Elementary, and that was only for third and fourth grade. The bus driver was a zombie at the time. It had been some time since she'd seen a human bus driver.

When she stood before the bus door, she turned to Ron with an odd feeling and said sweetly without smiling, "Thank you, sir."

"Your welcome, little lady. You'd best hurry 'fore you're late. I have to meet with the president today myself!" Ron said brightly. He was stoked to be able to live up to his parents' names as a superhero, even if his powers were gained through toxic waste.

"I'd like to hear about that someday," Faveau said, nodding before turning to leave.

"Hey, what's your name? Are you a freshman?" Ron asked, furrowing one eyebrow suspiciously.

"Transfer student," Faveau answered, hearing thunder in the distance. "I was told a Coach Boomers would tell me where I rank. My name is Faveau Cazadora."

"Hm," Ron hummed, nodding his head in acknowledgement. "Maybe one day I will tell you all about it, Faveau. Good luck on your first day."

"Thank you," Faveau said, smiling softly.

She finally got off the bus and looked at her new surroundings. Sky High was definitely different. It was a complete opposite to Saint John Academy. The grass was just as bright as the sky, yet it was gloomy and dark in her part of town! Some kids were flying to the school's stairs to walk to the front door. Others were teasing each other. A cheerleading squad was singing some weird hymn to inspire the students. Not wanting to know what they were saying, Faveau continued to look around to find something of interest. A soft wind blew, reminding her that she was wet from the black lace of the bottom of her skirt and down, and she walked up to the school's front lawn in hopes that the sun would warm her up. Ha, like the sun cares! Thunder rose in the distance and gray storm clouds were approaching the school. Evidently, the rain decided to follow her. Before she began her beginnings of a bad day chant, Faveau hooked her umbrella onto her backpack's strap and walked toward a group of kids with nametags on their shirts. She didn't want hers to ruin her jacket, so she just put it on her hand.

Will had caught up with his friends after plainly giving up on waiting for the new girl. She decided to stay on the bus a little longer than he'd like. Layla smiled at him when he snuck up on her and kissed her sweetly then returned the gesture. They were a good fifteen minutes early before classes started. Everyone had a mixture of hero and sidekick classes, so they were waiting to get to homeroom to see their new schedules. Of course, once they got their agendas there would be no need for homeroom until major events and curriculum changes took place. Half the time, homeroom was where your major classes were held.

Magenta folded her arms and scoffed at the cutesy kisses being exchanged between her friends then said, "So... what'd she say?"

"Who?" Will asked, looking in Magenta's eyes.

"The new girl. You were _supposed_ to be Ethan's ambassador. So what'd she say?" she asked, impatiently.

"Well..." Will started, looking out in the distance in the new girl's direction. "'Member when we joked on our double date and said if Warren were a girl, he'd be even scarier than he was before?"

"You talked about Warren behind his back? How bad do you wanna die?" Ethan questioned incredulously.

"We were just joking!" Will defended. "Anyways, she's...kind of...the _same_...except...no fire, flaming, torch-handed superpowers."

"She's a girly Peace?" Layla inquired in a whispering tone, looking in the new girl's direction.

The group looked at the new girl's group, who were just excitedly looking around at their new school, and watched as two seniors from the homecoming committee began plotting against the freshmen. One of them was a boy with blonde hair combed backwards in the shape of a square at the front and green eyes. He wore a red flannel jacket, dark blue shirt, and washed out jeans with red Converse high-tops. He had the ability to fire lasers from his eyes. In contrast, his partner was another teenage boy with long brown hair that covered his neck and swept across the front of his face to cover his blue eyes. He wore a blue and black plaid jacket, a yellow shirt, and black jeans with white, blue, yellow, and black Nike high-tops. He also wore a blue and white baseball cap. He had the ability to manipulate lightning. The laser boy tapped his friend's shoulder then nodded to the freshmen so he could round them up in a bunch.

"Watch this," thunder boy snickered.

Within seconds, the boy's eyes began to glow a striking light blue color and lightning was forming through his arms and hands. He let out a grunt then formed an electric field around the freshmen. Many of them screamed while a few huddled together in confusion. Faveau was unfazed by this and was getting closer and closer to saying her beginnings of a bad day chant out loud. She just got to this stupid school and already she was forming enemies! Thunder boy took notice to Faveau's overall indifference and silenced the powers radiating through his arms and hands. He tapped his friend's chest then pointed to the girl in question.

"Hey, check her out," thunder boy said.

Laser boy looked at Faveau and noticed she was just standing there. He then said, "Kinda cute for a freshmen."

"Say, man, I got dibs on that one," lightning boy bantered, tucking a lock of hair behind his left ear. "Get the rest of 'em."

"So, welcome to Sky High, freshmen and new students alike," laser boy greeted with a cocky smile on his face. The electric walls lowered as the lightning controller got closer to Faveau. He then said, "My name's Blaine. That there's Spencer. If you don't mind, we'll be collecting a little fee for the tour of the campus."

"They don't have a fee," a student bravely perks.

"And the bullying just _keeps on_ going," Faveau mumbles to herself.

"Say, babe, you look a little lost," Spencer, the lightning controller, starts. He searches Faveau's chest for her nametag but finds her still-developing breasts of more interest and smirks a little. Boldly, he takes hold of her hand and sees her lace gloves with metal skulls in the center and chains hanging from either side of the stamp covering her nametag. Seeing Faveau snatch her hand away from him, he cockily puts his arm around her shoulders and says, "Sky High doesn't wear uniforms no matter how good they look on their new students."

Faveau, feeling disrespected, elbows Spencer in his ribs then shoves him off. Her eyes begin to glow as she threatens, "Touch me again and I swear I will _break_ your arm."

"Ooo, she's a fiesty little minx!" Blaine banters. "Just your type, dude."

"Sure is," Spencer agrees, walking over to his buddy with a plotting smirk on his face. This was going to be one of many attempts at getting her number. He then offers, "Ditch these losers and I promise you the world... with you and me to watch it spin around us."

"That tears it!" Faveau shouts, unleashing her powers.

Shadows engulfed Spencer and Blaine's bodies as Faveau awakened spirits from the depths of hell. Faveau's entire form was covered in a dark entity. Her body was hunched as ghosts surrounded her and began to circle the boys. She chanted something evil that forced hands from the devil's cage to spring from the ground and clutch onto the bullies' ankles, preventing them from moving. They started screaming as ghosts pulled their heads back and caressed their necks, licking them with cold saliva trailing down their necks. The freshmen were completely freaked out as bats were soon beginning to cover their upperclassmen's bodies. Faveau's hair swung out and stabbed both boys' in their eyes, causing them to scream out and cry in pain. She brought a claw out from her body and whispered another chant that directed the ghosts to pounce on their bodies and mull them. The freshmen were running away from the entire ordeal to escape Faveau's wrath as she tortured Blaine and Spencer.

Will and the gang were flabbergasted at the sheer amount of darkness that covered the boys. They watched as Faveau called her ghosts, bats, and hair back to her body. She was sealing her powers off again and sighed when her deed was done. She looked perfectly normal as if nothing had happened. Blaine and Spencer were anything but normal. They were still screaming and crying in pain, even though nothing was on them anymore. Faveau hovered over both boys with an angry expression crossing her features then kneeled above Spencer to watch him cry. Her eyes were glowing again as she read through his mind. He was imagining something horrid in her illusions. Seeing his worst fears, Faveau released her spells on both bullies and smiled as they shuffled and scrambled away from her. She didn't say or do anything more to them. She only grinned like a madman then stood to her feet.

"Whoa..." Zach said, earning nods from everyone else. They all had the same thought.

"Hey!" someone screamed.

Faveau's grin decreased to a smirk as she turned to see a girl running towards the boys. She looked back to the boys, seeing a stain on Blaine's pants from having just peed on himself, and let her smirk decrease into a saddened pout. She did it again. Her powers leaked out and nearly hurt two innocent people, though scaring multiple others. Nothing could change what happened here now, so Faveau merely looked back at the girl then switched to the boys again. She manipulated her hair to grab onto the boys' shirt cuffs then dragged them to the girl who looked concerned for them. She was shivering at the use of power to transport Blaine and Spencer and meekly stood her ground.

Faveau hissed, "These yours?"

The girl shook her head then ran off to tell someone, anyone, what had happened. Faveau scoffed at the coward then threw the boys a distance away from her. Blaine and Spencer didn't waste any time staying near the new girl. They followed after the girl who tried to bravely save them. Faveau watched them go as the bell rung for classes to begin. Will, now completely terrified, turned to Ethan who was standing absolutely still and quiet after having seen Faveau's power leak out.

"Still wanna try and ask her out?" he asked, watching Faveau walk inside the school.

"Her eyes lit up like the warm flame on a soft, white, melting candle. So _beautiful_..." Ethan complimented, sighing.

"There a reason why he's like that?" a familiar voice asked.

Layla and Zach turned to see Warren dressed in his usual red and black, but Layla was the first to greet him. She said, "Oh, hey, Warren."

"He's discovering the poetic beauty of finding his first love," Magenta answered.

"With?" Warren probed, curious to know who stole Ethan's heart. Knowing Ethan, though, anyone could've stolen it.

"No one knows her name," Zach responds this time, "but she's gonna be in the hero class for sure. Or the villain class if they have one."

"What's her power?" Warren asked.

"I'm thinking torture," Magenta replies, looking into Warren's eyes. She pulls everyone into the school so they can walk to homeroom together.

"She a freshman?" Warren then inquires.

"Don't know, but she is scary," Layla answers. She nods to Ethan then says, smiling, "Ethan likes her a lot, though. I think if it hadn't been for those jerks, she would've been just a calm, normal girl."

"When you're cute, all you get is jerks trying to talk to you," Magenta complains.

"Hey! You're pretty cute, too, ya know," Layla defends, not wanting to be in the same jerk category. "And I'm not a jerk. No offense, Ethan. Zach."

"What the hell..." Warren responds. Clearly, he doesn't like being a jerk either.

"Yeah, well, lemme know when I'm a supermodel and I'll say thanks for the compliment," Magenta retorts.

"There's no arguing with you!" Layla sighs, resignedly.

* * *

In the gymnasium, Faveau was following behind her group to orientation. Many of the freshmen were staying clear of her. She sighed at this, wishing she could take what she had done back. She didn't want to start off her year with a bad reputation. Damn her luck! All she really wanted to do now was get this day over with. She knew from her mother's reading that she was bound for a day full of bad luck, but she didn't think it was going to be this bad. Rainy morning, love note trashed, hitting her head on the bus, getting hit on by a complete jerk, and now instilling fear on fellow classmates. Oh, her day was bound to get better when the moon rose, too? Yeah, can't wait until lunchtime. Faveau waited just like everyone else for orientation to start. A burst of white light flooded through the doors and little stars trailed behind. The sweep of power flew towards a conveniently-placed podium, and from it spawned a rather curvatious and thin woman.

She greeted, "Good morning. On behalf of myself and the staff, welcome to Sky High. Here began the journey of many heroes you all may know and love as Maxville's protectors. In a few moments, you will go through Power Placement and your own heroic journey will begin."

"What's Power Placement?" one student asked. Faveau was not aware of their being such a thing in this school, but it sounded interesting enough to eavesdrop on her fellow freshmen. The boy then said, "Is that some kind of test?"

"Sort of," a girl answers. "It's how they decide where you go. If your power is useful, you're set to be a hero; fail, say hello to being a sidekick."

_Sidekick, huh?_ Faveau thought, scoffing. _What a load of crap..._

"Comets away!" Principal Powers shouted, disappearing in a beam of white light.

Once she left, a man was already standing in front of the doors atop a stage. No one had noticed him walk in, so they were clearly surprised to see him. He ignored the surprised expressions and said, "Alright, my name is Coach Boomers. I decide whether you go on to be a hero...or a _sidekick_. Now, before I start, there's a golden rule I wanna lay down. Every semester, we have what I like to call a bunch of sniveling brats, or whiner babies, who think that it's not fair to be sidekicks when they should be heroes. In short, they complain to me about where they should go, so let's get something perfectly clear. My word is _law_. My judgement is _final_. I don't wanna hear any whiner babies complaining about where they should go. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Coach Boomers..." the kids complained with exception to Faveau. In her world, law and judgement were only questioned by moral principles. Complaining about your ranking hardly outweighs the people you are capable of saving through the usefulness of your powers. If your powers are useless, you can't save lives; if they are, you should be fine.

_Remember, Faveau. Einrie always said that anyone can be a hero but not everyone should_, Faveau thought.

"I said, 'Is that..._**CLEAR**_?'" Boomers said, magnifying his voice to several decibels beyond the human ear's normal capacity.

"Yes, Coach Boomers!" the kids shouted, again with exception to Faveau.

"Alright, let's begin," Boomers said, removing his sunglasses.

* * *

It was finally lunchtime! Even though school had just begun, many of the kids were just happy to be away from the introductions to their new classes. Will was happy to be away from Mad Science anyway. Everyone pretty much had separate classes for third period, so he was eager to know what was going on with everyone else. Today, the menu was a hamburger special, something everyone could enjoy. Of course, there was one friend who normally never ate during lunch. That's when Will found Warren sitting in his usual seat away from the world. He was wearing a leather jacket per usual, but this one had a hood to blanket him from the rain most likely. Now that he knows where he lives, it is safe to assume that it had rained in his area. Will took his tray of food to Warren's table, which is pretty bold on his part, and sat in front of him with a shy smile on his face. He waved lightly and shuffled a bit before Warren looked up at him then returned to his magazine. At least he acknowledged his new friend.

"So...how was class?" Will started.

"Perfectly boring with exception to hearing Boomer scream sidekick all morning," Warren answered, not tearing his gaze from his magazine. "What do you want?"

"Well, since we're acquaintances - "

"I'm not heating up your lunch," Warren snapped, lifting his head and gaze to show a bit of annoyance.

"I was...going to say I thought we could sit together," Will replied, chuckling. "Speaking of lunch, why don't you ever eat?"

"I eat in class to stay awake," Warren says, tilting his head as if stating the obvious and making Will a bit nervous from the odd stare.

"Fair enough."

"Hey," a familiar voice whispered, sitting a seat away from Will. The boys turned to see Magenta looking in a general direction as she sat down in her seat. She was wearing a light blue beenie and purple, blue, and black shirt from what they could see. Well, from what Warren could see; Will can see more of her wardrobe but hardly cared. Magenta nodded her head then said, "Ethan's super crush. Near the window."

Will peeks over Warren's shoulder to look in the general direction Magenta was nodding to while Warren merely turns around to look at all the seats near the window. Only one girl caught their attention as she sat down in a relatively dark corner to unpack her bag. No one dared to sit near her, but she didn't seem to mind that much. Instead, she took out a smaller lunch bag out of her bookbag and unpacked it. They watched her pull out different containers and little snacks as she placed them diligently in a certain arrangement. By her being far away, they couldn't tell what she was eating. However, she did seem to be happy.

Warren was completely taken aback by Ethan's new crush. She was very pretty, proper, quiet, and dark. She was easily recognized as the goth of Sky High; whereas, Warren and Magenta would be considered rebellious punks because of their style and attitude. It then occurred to the hothead that they spent hours in a mall trying to find Ethan's perfect balance and he was falling for someone who was completely the opposite of what he thought he would have wanted.

"_That's_ Popscicle's new crush?" Warren questioned, growling.

"Oh, you saw her, too?" Layla whispered, sitting between Will and Magenta. She exchanged glances from the new girl to Warren and then to her tofu burger. She whispered, "I heard in class she isn't making many friends. Everyone's too scared of her since the incident."

"Incident?" Warren prompted. He heard there was some kid who could turn into a monster and eat your soul, but, like many things involved with Sky High, what he heard could pass as a rumor.

"This morning when she was going to orientation, one of the seniors tried to hit on her," Layla explained. "She got so mad, her powers leaked and she attacked the guy."

"You talking about the new girl?" Zach asked, sitting next to Warren while Ethan sat on his other side.

"I heard Principal Powers talking to Nurse Spex on my way to second period," Ethan started, smiling brightly. "Ever since the new girl attacked Blaine and Spencer from the homecoming committee, they've been in the nurse's office. Principal Powers said they may have to go to a mental institution until second quarter exams."

Zach moves in close to whisper in a small voice only audible to the group, "Nurse Spex says she can't understand them when they try to explain what happen. They keep talking about awful things happening to them like teeth sinking into their skin and pulling on 'em, but there's no signs of physical pains anywhere on their bodies. She said they're both too loopy to continue school, especially when there's no real evidence pointing to the culprit. They don't know she did it!"

"What about the freshmen who saw her?" Will asks. "They were there to see."

"None of 'em wanna fess up," Ethan says, whispering. "That's totally kickass!"


	5. Chapter 5

Ethan couldn't contain his excitement much longer. He had a crush on probably the scariest super since Warren, Speed, and Lash combined! Ever since he and his friends witnessed the new girl's dark, shadowy powers, no one dared to cross the line around her. She was the perfect person to balance him out! She was beautiful, strong, loved music, and... Well, he'll find out some other things later. But she was really cool and different from the other girls in Sky High. Will being his ambassador didn't really work out, so maybe he had to use a more direct approach to find out things about her. She seemed to like scary things like blood, torture, and death, so he would have to seem interested in the same things. What was fascinating about scary stuff was beyond him, but she liked those things so he would too.

Layla and Warren both gave Ethan a 'you're crazy' look as he turned to watch her. Magenta and Zach also turned every now and then to watch the new girl, but she was pleasantly minding her own business as she ate her lunch. Will noticed that she had outstanding manners, though. Her back was straight, her elbows were off the table, and she ate in relatively small portions. Her movements were very fluid and calm, even with all the boisterous noise around her. She was completely fading into the darkness as if nothing and no one existed around her. He then looked at the way she drank her soda. She drunk it for a few seconds then placed the bottle on top of a napkin. He noticed how much of a savage everyone else look compared to her and wondered how he looked when he was eating. He straightened up as he sat then looked at her to see if he got it right. A couple of cracks sounded as his spine was stretched. It felt good. He then noticed he was eating a hamburger versus the new girl eating some type of soup and wondered how she would eat a sandwich. Fortunately, she did have a cut sandwich that she dipped into the soup. How could a teenage girl be so elegant and clean?

He started thinking of a way to cut the burger in half to match the new girl. The plastic knife he had would just break in half, so he reasoned that he could just tear it apart. Warren noticed what Will was doing and was about to question him until Layla spoke.

"Um, that's totally _not good_. They'll pin her as a villain until graduation," Layla said, looking from the new girl to Ethan to raise a point. "You know what that could do to you and her if you're not careful?"

Will stopped tearing his burger, having finally got it in half portions and got ketchup and mustard all over his fingers, and then looked up at the new girl again to see how she was eating her sandwich. She dipped the ends into her soup then wiped off excessive amounts of the fluid onto the inside ends of her bowl. She lifted the sandwich to her mouth slowly then took a small bite. She placed it back into the bowl as she chewed calmly and continued doing the 'dip then bite' routine. Will didn't have any soup to dip the burger, but there was ketchup and mustard that had spilled from the sandwich so he used that. He then noticed his elbows were spread out on the table. Shifting nervously, he took them off while hunching then sat straight back up again with his elbows off. He then noticed Zach just staring at him like he was crazy.

_Who the hell eats a burger like that?_ Zach thought.

"What exactly might that do to him?" Warren questioned, growling a bit.

Suddenly, everyone turned to face the flamethrower. His eyes were completely narrowed and his mouth set in a straight line. He was angry at something someone said. What were they talking about again? Oh, right! Ethan has the hots for the new girl but she has assumingly evil powers. That's clear. Layla just said... What did Layla say?

"Do what to the who now?" Will asked, looking from his best friend to his girlfriend. Clearly, he missed something as he was watching the new girl eat.

"You tell us, _hippie_," Warren then demanded. "What exactly _could_ calling the new girl a villain for the rest of her life _do_ to Ethan?"

Magenta rolled her eyes then said, "No, Warren, she's just making a po - "

"A point?" Warren finished, hissing viciously. "What, am I a bother to you now? Is that your point?"

"I didn't mean it like that, Warren," Layla tried, seeing flames beginning to form on his shoulders.

"What did you mean then, hippie?" Warren questioned, rising to stand. He practically hovered above everyone even without them standing to their full height; now, he was just a hothead of a giant.

"I'm just saying that it won't be good for her because no one will want to speak to her, or she could be the next Royal Pain. That's not gonna help anyone, especially Ethan, because - " Layla explained meekly. She grabbed onto Will's pant leg, trying to get some support from him.

Will felt the grip on his pants and stood to his own feet. Though he did grow a couple of inches over the summer, he still had some catching up to do before he could get to Warren's full height. Evidently, he grew some more, which was biologically unfair. He ignored the difference in height and just said in a soothing tone, "Warren, stop! You know Layla didn't mean to bring up old stuff. She's not that kind of girl. Calm down. She's just saying that if the new girl is called a villain or is treated like one, she might use that as a reason to take over the school or hurt innocent people who don't know any better. She never saw you as a villain once and neither did the rest of us. You're just...misunderstood...and a little crazy, but you're cool to us. You're our friend now. You're not a villain. You do care about innocent people."

With those words, Warren cooled down significantly. It's amazing how his old rival became one of the only people who could calm him down or upset him to the point of killing someone. He was sure Layla didn't mean to say her words the way she did, but it didn't make it right to say the new girl would be too scary to make friends or have relationships with people. He was once too scary to make any real friends until these goofy, clever, and pleasant kids came to Sky High. Without them, he would've never been to any of the school dances. All through freshmen year, he never went to a single dance or spoke to anyone about anything happening in life. He even passed on ever trying to find a date to these stupid functions, but it took a brave girl like Layla and a dumbass like Stronghold to break him out of his shell.

Warren slunk back down in his seat then folded his arms to read his book. He then mumbled, "You shouldn't say it like that. In case you forgot, I was just like her."

Layla looked up at Will then smiled at him. He was now officially a best friend to Warren in her eyes. Maybe somewhere in the threads of the universe, they were meant to be friends and hang out like regular people. She watched Will sit back down then noticed he was shifting nervously again like he remembered he was doing something wrong and had to correct himself a billionth time. She asked, "Will, why did you tear your burger in half?"

"Yes, please explain that," Zach hurriedly said, wanting to avoid anymore bouts of anger from Warren and understand what Will was doing earlier.

"Oh, I was...uh," Will started, chuckling nervously. He looked up at the new girl and noticed she was packing the remains of her lunch away, having consumed all of what was there. She stood to her feet, swung her backpack over her shoulders, and then calmly left the cafeteria. He let out a disappointed sigh, wanting to figure out how she was able to just be so...proper, and then answered, "Just...messing around."

"I think you're a little old to be playing with your food," Layla whispered in his ear, giggling when he shivered a bit. She learned on their first date that whispering in his ear was actually a bit of a turn-on.

"Hey, Warren, where's Cris?" Ethan piped up, getting Warren to tear his eyes away from his magazine. "I thought she said she was gonna be here earlier."

"She said the student council was having lunch together, so she stopped by earlier to tell me," Warren answered, looking back down to his magazine. "What are we doing for Friday night again?"

"Oh, we're going to the bowling alley," Layla replied cheerfully. "Hey, Ethan, wanna come with us? We can make it a hangout night instead?"

"Sure, if you don't mind. I mean it's your date night," Ethan said.

"Wanna try to ask the new girl out? It'll be your first date if you survive," Magenta said, rolling her eyes. He was doomed to fail.

"Where is the new girl?" Layla asked, trying to see if she blended in to her dark corner.

"Away from you obviously," Magenta retorted, scoffing back a chuckle at her own response.

"You know, you are just impossible," Layla shot, taking a small bite out of her vegan burger. She chewed, swallowed a bit, then pushed the rest to one side of her cheek while saying, "Why can't you just be a little sweeter? I thought we were best friends."

"We are," Magenta defended, eating one of her chips. "I just have a better sense of humor."

"You..." Layla started, chuckling and rolling her eyes.

"Oh, did you hear Medulla's thinking about getting a class pet?" Zach asked, eating one of his own chips. "Hey, War, I'm gonna need your old English notes if you have 'em. They moved me to heroes' English II."

"You guys trade notes?" Ethan questioned.

"Hey, don't hate. His notes got me a B last year," Zach defended, pointing an accusatory finger at Ethan.

"What kind of pet is he trying to get?" Layla asked.

"He said he might pick an A student in his classes to help him create a mutant animal instead of a regular one," Zach answered. "Something about exercising their brain. No one knows what the hell he's thinking about anymore."

"Gwen used to be his teaching assistant. Maybe he's just looking for another one deep down," Will suggested, earning a hurt look from Layla. He turned to her as she started stabbing into her food then asked, "Why are you doing that?"

"Doing what?" Layla questioned, ignoring the fact that she was relentlessly poking holes in her head.

"She's angry because you mentioned your ex," Warren answered for Will, closing his book and standing to leave. "Bell's about to ring. Later dumbass."

"Bye, honey," Will teased, making a goofy face that earned him a 'whatever' look from Warren. Yep, they were officially best friends to everyone who knew them.

As Warren left out of the cafeteria with his book still in his hand, he noticed an icy power fluttering in the distance. The air was cold around him, and, when he took a deep breath, he could see the smoky vapors pour out from his lips. He looked down the corridors of the hall and saw his girlfriend, Cris, looking out in the distance. She let her hair down today, and her blue eyes seemed to sparkle like pieces of the sun's beams were captured in mountain ice. Her pale skin also glowed as the light from the windows shined on her. Her mouth was set in an open-mouthed frown and, when she breathed, icy vapors came from her pink-glossed lips. In short, she looked angry but gorgeous. He quietly walked up to Cris as she stared into the hall and whispered.

"Hey."

She jumped a bit then turned to Warren with a small smile. She then said, "Hey, Warren."

"What're you staring at?"

"Hm?" Cris hummed, grabbing onto his hand. He flared up, getting their powers to meet at an equilibrium, and then received a rather possessive kiss from her. When she stopped, she turned to the same direction then said, "Nobody, in particular. Just saw something weird."

* * *

Coach Boomers was back onto his stage in the gym, ready to evaluate the last group of freshmen, and started scouting out a couple of unchosen people. He ordered the babies to separate to make it easier for him to just pick out who was who. Hey, just because there were only about thirty new students doesn't mean he felt like keeping up with them. He was a certified physical education and training coach. To hell with babysitting! Leering at the last quarter of students, he started calling out random people again. Once he was down to his last one, he began to have a funny feeling lurking in his gut. There was something amiss. He skipped someone. Spotting his next victim, he pointed at a girl who managed to slip from his sights. She was dressed in dark clothes and was particularly quiet, but it wasn't because she was shy. It was more like she didn't want to be there because she was either too annoyed or just wanted the day to be over. He loved these kinds of new kids. They defied authority, and he gave no sympathy to those who defied his authority. In fact, he loved to make an example of these kinds of kids.

He scoffed a bit then pointed to the peculiarly quiet, black clad girl and said, "Hey, dynamo diva, get up here." The girl just turned to him until she realized he was staring at her then calmly and elegantly walked up the stage. He looked at his clipboard then said, "Alright, Fa - uh, what? Fav - Favi - "

"Faveau!" she corrected, hearing snickering come from her fellow freshmen. She realized she had been impolite then bowed before Boomers with an elegant sweep of her arm. She then said, "I apologize. My name is Faveau Cazadora."

"Yeah, I'm gonna call you Favi," Boomers said, feeling a bit uncomfortable with Faveau's manners. She was scary for a kid. No one ever behaved like this around him before. She was a little too polite for his tastes. He then remarked, "Way too complicated of a name. What's your power?"

"Mortes Art."

"What the hell is that?" Boomers asked, earning laughter from his response to her answer.

"My superpower..."

"Right..." Boomers droned, taking out his remote. He pushed the button in small anticipation then called out, "Drop the car!"

Within a blink of an eye, Faveau placed one hand on the stage and swept a long leg out to get some centripedal acceleration started. It looked like she was performing a windmill. She was on her hands, spinning on her palms, and then crouched with her knees parallel to her chest. She spun much faster on hands when in this position. Once she obtained enough rotational velocity, she pushed her weight upwards with the help of her bent arms and kicked the falling car up. Forcing herself to stand in midair at an angle, she kicked it to the side and forced it to snap from its otherwise sturdy drop-spring. Her fellow freshmen already didn't feel safe around her; now, they had to worry about pissing her off and getting kicked into oblivion! Coach Boomers was thoroughly impressed with her...superpower. He laughed a bit when the babies got a little scared.

"Super strength and martial arts. Nice," Boomers complimented in his patriotic way. He pushed another button just to test her for dual powers then called out, "Activate flamethrowers!"

Jets began appearing from the corners of the stage. Faveau was about to just tell him that she couldn't fight firepower, but something inside of her thought otherwise. Inside of her mind, she could hear the frantic beating of large wings forcing the wind down and up in all sorts of directions. A large roar bellowed in her corridor of power and sharp teeth began to glint in a faint glow. She tried to push the beast back, but it was growing angrier and wanted to be let out. She had already scared everyone away from her, though. She couldn't bear to do it again. Once she saw the flame jets point to her, the beast took over and her eyes turned to an ominous silver mixed with her natural yellow glow. Suddenly, she yanked the bottom of her mouth down, forcing her jaw to unsnap from its hinges, and screamed from the sheer pain. This scared many of the students and raised Boomers' concerns. Blood crept out of her mouth as her cheeks were splitting in half, and tears came from her eyes at the torture she felt, but she also began to chuckle a bit. It was an eery chuckle, but it meant that she was becoming excited. Power regurgitated from her center and a beam of power spewed from her mouth, blasting the jets into destruction.

"Oral beams?" Boomers questioned, dodging just in time from a beam going for the fire jet at his feet. He noticed that the jet was about to hit him with a few flames. He then said, "Ack! Definitely a hero, but you lack real control over your power and are going to need someone who can help develop your skills. You're going to have to be taken to Principal Powers at the end of orientation."

Faveau just stared at Boomers with glowing eyes, still holding her unsnapped, bleeding jaw in her gloved hand, and nodded slowly. She lost control again. Sighing, she shoved her jaw back in place then used the beast's power to heal her split cheeks. Once she felt her flesh melded in place, her eyes stopped glowing and she stood firmly in place. She couldn't question Boomers' authority here. This wasn't her city or her rules. She would only obey to an extent.

"Alright, we're gonna test your close combat skills and battle readiness through a few introductory activities," Boomers started, his chest widened at the thought of further torturing the babies. "I want the heroes on one side and sidekicks on the other side." Faveau was about to move to her place on the heroes' side, but the coach stopped her and said, "Yo, dynamo diva! I want you up, front and center. You're probably the most advanced in combat, so we're gonna test you to see if you need to take gifted classes. Same goes for everyone else. Some kids are further along than others, others need to start fresh from the basics. Right now is fourth period gym and we're playing one of my personal favorites... Dodgeball!"

"Ugh!" everyone complained, smacking their teeth and rolling their eyes.

"_**QUIET**_!" Boomers shouted, using his powers to gain the babies' attention. "This variation of dodgeball is different from the one you know in grade school. It's a lot more physical and you are allowed to use your powers but... there's a catch. Only three balls are allowed on the court. Teams of five play the court. The balls are specially made to absorb the powers of the person who throws it. Whoever is hit by the ball is out and that person gets a point for the team. You are to wear special uniforms for this sport because of the potential to either injure _yourself_ or _be_ injured. When the game starts, the balls will be shot at random from cannons. We call this the quick rush. If you can catch the ball, it's yours. Dead balls are free balls."

"Hehe, make sure you grab a few, dude," one smartass decided to joke.

Boomers caught on to the pun then glared at the teen. Kids today are just weird! He then said, "_Meaning_, no power is surging through them. If you touch a ball while power is still on it, you're out. If you drop a ball while trying to catch it, you're out. Headshots eliminate both the person who threw the ball and the person who gets hit by the ball. The ball will then be dead. Your teammates can use your ball and knock out other players. Power does not leave the ball until thirty seconds have passed after being thrown. If a player catches a thrown ball, the ball will go dead automatically and take the new thrower's power, thus eliminating the previous person who threw the ball. If a ball _hits_ a player but his _teammate_ catches the ball, the thrower is out and the ball will absorb both powers. Either teammate can throw the ball. There is a resurrection of players. If you manage to eliminate two opponents at the same time, you can call back one player. You can use your own ball to hit an incoming ball as a block. This is where that catch comes in. There's a buzzer during halftime that signals the powerball rush. We just call it halftime rush for convenience. During this time, whatever team has the most points will activate the power cannons. These cannons will fire three extra balls for that team. The team with the most points - not players - wins the game. That means even if you are outnumbered you can still win."

"That's not so bad," one of the students say.

"So long as we get creepy over there, we're in better shape than any other team the freshmen go against," a girl remarks, saddening Faveau. She didn't want to be creepy to anyone. She didn't want to be here.

"Get changed, newbies!" Boomers ordered.

"Yes, Coach Boomers!" everyone, with exception to Faveau, replied.

Faveau followed a group of girls to the locker rooms and noticed rows of protective gear on clothes racks. She was faintly reminded of her first local fashion show back at home. It was so noisy, and she was the most nervous girl. Her parents were there for support and gave her pep talks until her curtain call. She wondered if she should start modeling again, but she would have to redo her portfolio. All of her pictures had dark, Victorian era themes. It wasn't like the bright, optimistic world of Maxville.

Who knew this city could be such an uncomfortable, frightening place? These teenagers complain that she's weird and scary, but they're even worse in her eyes. She had never seen a teenager eat sandwiches with their raw hands before. They even opened their mouths to laugh or speak like uncivilized beasts. Even the way they sat was strange. The teens here slouched and bent their backs. The boys put their arms around you as if they own you and have no perception of true manners like a natural gentlemen. They even cuss out their women or threaten them with hidden joke underneath their banters. No man ever did that in her city. There was a severe punishment for men who mistreated any being of any kind. Even the way everyone dressed was peculiar. Everyone attracted attention in the worst ways. The girls here even sprayed their hair with some type of poison to make their locks flatten atop their heads. Some girls even put colored powders on their faces, stripping away their natural color. Others rupture their skin and make marrow-like creams pop out of their flesh. Such strange people!

She shook her head at this then reached out to read the size of one of the armors. It was three sizes too large, so she went down the rack to find a proper size. Except when she found her size, a large explosion from out of nowhere abruptly shifted one of the ceiling tiles and caused it to land onto her head. It shattered into a couple of pieces as it hit her head then dropped to the floor. She growled, looked up at the ceiling, and then rubbed her head. Bad luck was a bitch!

* * *

"Professor Medulla?" a familar voice called.

Medulla was sitting down, sipping his cup of coffee, as he watched his students suffer from a pop quiz. It was only the first day of school and he was already being relentless! It wasn't that, actually. He wanted to see where everyone stood so it would be easier to figure out who would need one-on-one time and who would need more advanced material. He hummed his response as he looked at his old friend, All-American Boy, and then shushed him to regain silence. Mr. Boy then covered his mouth and whispered his suddle apologies as he retrieved an empty chair and sat next to Medulla. It reminded them of old times when they took science classes together and poor Mr. Boy didn't have a lab partner that wanted to be around him. Medulla, of course, didn't rightly care since no one liked talking to him either. They were both the weird, goofy ones, so it was probably natural that they found a friend in each other.

"Sorry, Medulla," Boy whispered. "I wanted to ask you if you were going to gym for sixth period."

"Hm?" Medulla hummed. He then remembered the new students that were coming in today and said, "Ah, yes, the freshmen. Boomers said something about that at lunch. Anyone of interest?"

"Just the rumor about that kid who sent two seniors to the asylum."

"That reminds me. Did they ever find out who did that?" Medulla asked.

Truth be told, he had been just as curious as the students about this villain-like hero or sidekick. Being a mad scientist made him sympathetic to young heroes or sidekicks with darker interests, but this student perked his interests quite a bit. The only student to ever gain his interests like this was Gwen Grayson, and she was once his high school crush, Sue Tenny. Such a shame, really, having her locked away in the detention center until she was able to graduate and be put away to a proper jailing facility for young villains.

"I don't think so," Boy answered, seeing one student give up on figuring out one of the questions.

"Turn your paper over when you're finished," Medulla said, watching the young girl turn her paper over and simply wait. He then turned his attentions back to Boy and continued, "It's been almost five hours since then. Who else has the power to form illusions of that sort of caliber?"

"Someone who doesn't go here, obviously. The kids who were infected with the illusions aren't talking any sense. Well, one of them is a lot better now. He'll be in school tomorrow. He told Principal Powers that it was a freshmen. Principal Powers will be watching the Save the Citizen matches for sixth period to see whether what he said was true. If a freshmen did whatever happened to those boys, she may personally expel him or her."

"She can't expel a student on the first day of school. I'm a madman, and even I find that unfair. Those boys could've said anything to the freshmen that made him upset. You know how kids are, especially seniors. Freshmen are the easiest meat to a pack of seniors. They're practically free game. Principal Powers may very well ask the freshmen what happened just to be safe and sure of what went on, but she would need proof that the freshmen's actions were done purposely to hurt others."

"I know, but this is serious. A power like that could be trouble."

"Pfft!" Medulla scoffed. "That kind of power could be useful in many ways. Do you know how wealthy that child could be in intelligence gathering for government agencies across the world? An illusion so strong you can't even talk could earn him millions. He could stop national treasons, nuclear warfare - not that I condone it, world war after 2s! If that freshmen's parents were too terrified of him becoming something evil, they sent him to one of the best places to train him up."

"Yeah, but sending people to an asylum?" Boy questioned. "One of the kids who was under the illusion spells said it happened outside of the school when they went to talk to the freshmen group and lead them into the gym. There were other people who saw the culprit, but they were either too scared to speak up or were protecting him...or her."

"I say they were protecting their savior. Seniors are some of the most conniving bastards. They put us through hell when we were in school," Medulla defended. He then smirked and chuckled a bit before saying, "Before I created a laser beam that turned them into frogs until lunch was over. Showed those froggy, little douchebags what for is what I did."

"I get what you're saying. Maybe the kid just has a scary power. Who knows? But he is at risk of not being able to come to school anymore, least of all here."

Medulla hummed in thought, looking into Boy's blue eyes. He then said, "Sixth period, you say?"

"Save the Citizen," Boy answered, nodding to reassure the professor.


	6. Chapter 6

While Boomers was calmly waiting for his first PE class to drag their feet in, he was calmly reading the names of the freshmen on his clipboard. He circled Faveau's name as the fourth period upperclassmen trickled in, already in their suits for dodge ball. Of course, the sophomores were probably going to be the most confused since they only played Save the Citizen all last year, but they'll learn soon enough that every year a new game is introduced. Ignoring this, Boomers listed her as an AHD in bold, capital letters and pulled out a physical report sheet that was empty of handwriting. He rewrote Faveau's name and several other freshmen who he was going to watch for physical awareness, but he had his eyes set on watching Faveau when she was going to be called. By her being more advanced in combat skills, he was going to have to be a little harsher on her as opposed to other students. Even the seniors don't show results like she does, and he had heard about the incident this morning with two seniors going to an asylum. Faveau was the culprit for sure. The way she yanked her jaw apart was a clear sign she terrified the boys senseless. She terrified her fellow freshmen!

Turning to the students, he ordered, "Everyone hit the bleachers. Haxel, Rodriguez, Thompson, Kenneth. Get up here."

"Hey, Cris, your boyfriend's not skippin' to see you in action?" Thompson teased.

Cris turned to Thompson, one of her friends, and said, "Warren knows better than to skip class. You should give him some credit for walking me to class."

"I don't know, blondie. Might need to check 'im out if he tries anything," Rodriguez remarked, earning a laugh from Cris.

"We're gonna play a little dodge ball with the freshmen today," Boomers started, finishing up his scribbling. "Two of you are gonna be on separate teams. You need to pick a captain and three other players for your team. You can pick whoever you want out of the group I selected. Clear?"

"Yes, Coach Boomers," the four replied, tightening some of their straps. They already knew how brutal this game could be, especially with the lack of wearing a helmet. If any part of your armor slipped, consider yourself bed-ridden for the next three weeks. Power balls were not nice.

"Freshmen, let's go!" Boomers shouted, making all the new students rush out towards their coach. Of course, Faveau wasn't as anxious to play dodge ball or get to the coach in a hurry.

Cris watched as Faveau slowly trailed behind the other students and instantly tapped into her ice powers. Many noticed the ice and crystalline structures forming at her feet and began to wonder what was going on. The secret to her cold demeanor was because she knew Faveau; in fact, they used to be best friends until Faveau's father, Fuerte Cazadora, nearly killed her mother when she was only nine years old. Her father managed to rescue her and they ran to Maxville to live a normal life. She was too young to remember in full detail what they had argued about, but she and Faveau were enemies since then.

Fond memories of the two sharing cakes and dressing up as princesses came to her mind. Then, the two drawing pictures of their weddings came to mind. However, when she started to remember the day their mothers separated them because of conflicting views on something, that's when she grew angrier. Her hair was flowing beautifully in wisps of ethereal silk. Her eyes were glowing a lovely blue as she continued to watch her long-lost friend. She was busying herself with a rubber band for her hair so it wouldn't get in the way as they played the game, but her hair was going to be the least of her worries when this was over.

"Hey, Rodriguez," Cris called, still gazing into Faveau's soul. "You're with me. Let's just pick some random freshmen. Thompson. Kenneth. Pick that girl over there."

"Who?" Thompson questioned, looking at the small group of freshmen Coach Boomers rounded up. There were only two girls within the group of people, one who wore all black with exception to the white armor and one who wore all white with exception to the black armor.

"The one with the black make-up, sitting in a corner by herself," Cris specified, seeing Thompson looking at Faveau. "Pick whoever you want, but I want to go against her."

"Hey, pick your meat shields! We haven't got all period," Boomers called out.

"Alright, you're the nominee for homecoming queen," Rodriguez commented, resignedly agreeing to do as Cris said.

"We want the three on the right," Cris called, taking one last glance at Faveau and then smiling at the freshmen running towards her.

Faveau wasn't even paying attention as she was called to the opposing team. Boomers sighed at this then said, "Yo, dynamo diva, get up there."

Faveau looked at Boomers then calmly walked over to her team. Boomers flipped the pages on his clipboard to start taking stats then noticed a presence looking down from above. He looked up to see the principal hiding in the corner, watching the students. She was looking at Boomers at first then looked back down to the kids. Some were excited to play dodge ball; others would rather sleep in class. Thompson and Kenneth decided to be good influences to the new kids and decided to introduce themselves and shake hands. Sure, they were juniors and seniors, but not all juniors and seniors picked on the little toddlers of Sky High.

"Hey, guys. I'm Diesel Thompson. This is Earwig Kenneth. We like to call him Wiggy for short. My power is smoke manipulation. I can turn into smoke, create smoke, and smother people to death with smoke. Wiggy, your powers?"

"Hey, I'm actually a dual-power super. I can not only fly but I can blow your eardrums out with the sound of thunder that comes from my hands when I clap or stomp on the ground. Ooooo..." Earwig said, getting the freshmen to laugh with exception to Faveau. She was interested in their powers; she just wasn't interested in their jokes. They weren't exactly as funny as the dead humor back home. She did note, however, that Diesel's power was similar to a vampire's ability to turn into mist while Wiggy had the same power as she did: flight. Of course, she only flies when necessary for a mission in midair.

"Alright, so tell us your names, powers...favorite colors, anyone?" Diesel started.

"I'm Giovanni. I turn into a robot," one boy said shyly.

"Ivan," another boy said, shaking Diesel's hand. "I cause static disturbances."

"You two should buddy up," Earwig suggested. "Robots thrive in electrical and magnetic areas, so your powers go hand in hand sort of like ours. What about you, shy girl? What's your shtick?"

"Faveau," she answered, looking off to the side. "I scare people. I don't really have a favorite color."

Boomers blew his whistle and gave a brief rundown of the game between the two players. Faveau folded her arms then closed her eyes as she concentrated on feeling her surroundings and seeing the people, objects, and court. The floors were buffered quite well so it was easier to slip than it was to run and gain traction. She would have to take slower steps and be more cautious of swift throws. The walls blew air in the form of vectors along a field that mimicked an air hockey table; meaning, the environmental air was going to be circulated along the walls. The balls that struck the walls would be tossed back onto the court in tangential motions to the circulating vectors. She had a feeling many of the more experienced players would go for the walls, so she had to stay at a good angle away from the tangent line of the rotating vector. That would be practically impossible since everywhere was like a laser field in a heavily guarded museum.

"Opening rush...START!"

Balls were flying everywhere at ridiculously high speeds. They flew by and carried the wind with them. One of them hit Diesel in the face while others struck the opposing team. Faveau took note that evidently not everyone was experienced at this sort of game like she had thought. Yes, it was hard to keep up with the balls as they bounced off the vector-field walls, but it wasn't that hard to dodge. However, she had more experience with speedy attacks than most others because of the enemies she faced in the underworld city, Mortsunder. While she thinks it's a bit of a cakewalk running towards a ball that had just recovered from bouncing off a wall, everyone else was trying to survive the first one-minute round.

A ball came rushing towards her, but she managed to capture the ball and nail her first throw. It was almost a headshot, but someone ran in front of it trying to catch another speeding ball and got hit instead. Her shadowy power made the ball turn into a black orb with shadows for wings and little spiked nubs. Cris caught one of the rushing balls in her hands and put so much of her power into the ball that the ball doubled in size and was hard enough to break a skull open. She threw it in Faveau's direction, but Wiggy got in the way and the ball smashed him in the face and broke into dozens of shard pieces. Boomers called a headshot on her part and eliminated her and Kenneth. Cris stomped her feet in frustration, wanting badly for the ball to hit Faveau instead. At least some of her aggression would be appeased towards her former friend. Once she plopped on the bleachers and watched the darker teen, she watched her movements and gasped when she caught a powered ball then immediately threw it back and eliminated Rodriguez.

She was way stronger than when they were children...and faster. This girl was extremely acrobatic and graceful. She calculated every move but made it seem like everything was second nature to her. Not a sound was heard from her that was more than a grunt or air-releasing pant. The Faveau Cazadora that was steadily dodging powered balls or turf attacks was nowhere near the same child she knew years ago. When they were little girls, Faveau could barely balance herself on her own two feet when they played in woods. In fact, she always got herself hurt or had to be saved from falling through a traitorous hole in the ground that was masked by leaves or grass or rubble. In all the times she had fallen, though, she had never cried or was afraid. She remembered days like those very clearly.

Faveau always wanted to go hunting for some kind of treasure that ghosts or witches left behind in the most peaceful parts of the forest. While their mothers shelled peas or green beans, they would run out in the tall grass trying to catch grasshoppers. Then, Faveau would pull out a map from her train conductor's hat that her father had given to her after returning from some distant land. Together, they would follow clues and play around until Faveau would fall into a hole. Cris always rescued her from plummeting to the bottom, but she was never worried about falling. Faveau would always look up at her and smile big, showing off a couple of loose or missing teeth. Cris would be worried always when she fell through something. Back then, Faveau didn't have any powers at all; as a matter of fact, Cris had hers first, but they only came out when she felt threatened or scared. Other than that, she was just as normal as her dark-skinned friend.

_"Favi, watch it! You're gonna die if ya don't look where you're goin'," she would lecture to her friend as her feet dangled in the cold shadows of the hole._

_"No, I won't," Faveau would say, shaking her head. She would still smile but blush as she continued, "My superhero will always come save me!"_

_"For the last time, _**Batman**_ doesn't live here!" she would argue, sighing resignedly. _

_"Batman's not my superhero, silly goose. You are!"_

_"M-m-me?" she would question, blushing._

_"Batman's never here to play with me. And he's not pretty or has ice powers. To me, you're the cooliest superhero ever."_

_To this confession, she would smile and feel the warmest sensation caressing and embracing her child-like heart. Something in her would make her feel like no other hero on Earth mattered. It was just her saving the day and the cute girl in trouble. She would then shake the proud warmth away and go back to being a concerned friend, but when she looked into Faveau's charming face all she could do was smile again. _

_She would then confess, "And you're the dummiest damsel in distress I've ever had to save every week. Gimme your other hand, dummy."_

Cris produced a small smile as the memory rushed to her. Ever since then, she wanted to be a superhero to protect children just like Faveau. Now, that's all changed. She wants nothing more than to hurt her. She continued to watch the progress in silence, shoving any more fond memories into a mental garbage bin. Faveau caught sight of a ball speeding towards her fellow freshmen, Giovanni, who was preparing to make a Spartan throw, and barrel-rolled to dodge one ball then sweep her leg underneath him. This helped him dodge a ball with spinning saw blades at the bottom. When was dodge ball so life-threatening? Faveau and Giovanni looked at each other, seeing how they almost got seriously hurt, and barely paid attention to a ball hurdling towards them. Ivan caught the ball to save them and then shouted at them for not paying attention.

"Dudes, you almost died! Get off the floor and do something!"

"Wait, combine powers with mine," Faveau suggested.

"What?" Giovanni questioned.

"If we fuse powers, the ball will be strong enough to take on different effects. Fuse with me!" Faveau ordered, making Giovanni roll his eyes then hold the ball with one hand. When she and Ivan placed their hands on the ball, it formed into a large triple-powered ball.

"Dynamo diva's got a few skills. Advanced combat..." Boomers whispered, writing details under Faveau's name.

She had leadership and analytical skills that placed her on a junior to senior level. He looked up to see what the freshmen's super ball would do and watched as Faveau bumped it like a volleyball. Ivan caught a ball hurdling towards them, and Giovanni gave the ball a nice Spartan throw with his robotic strength. That was actually very good teamwork! Very surprising of the freshmen group. It was funny, too. They made the juniors and seniors look terrible. A freshmen with the power to make a cannon appear on his chest inhaled deeply as he prepared some sort of attack. One of the freshmen stuffed a ball in his chest then ducked as the ball came hurdling towards Ivan. Faveau caught this foul play and ran in front of Ivan to protect him from the ball, inevitably eliminating herself.

Boomers proceeded to write new stats accordingly and took note to a couple of weaknesses. Principal Powers began to hum in thought as she watched the game continue on. Both teams were down to two players each. Suddenly, the halftime rush started and the players were knocked back and forth by random balls, gaining cheers and excitement from the non-players. The white team ended up victorious, however, because of their accumulation of points toward the near end. The black team was only behind by ten points, though. They could fairly say they were good competitors.

"Black team, you played well. Great teamwork, freshmen," Boomers complimented. "All o' you, hit the showers."

"Hey," Ivan called, tapping Faveau's shoulder. He then said, smiling and blushing a little, "thanks for protecting me. T-t-that was really cool."

Faveau held up her hand for a shake then nodded when Ivan bravely shook her hand. She then said with a warm smile that only an angel could have chiseled from a holy marble block, "Your welcome..."

* * *

Medulla was on his way to the gymnasium, now eager to see the freshmen play Save the Citizen with a few upperclassmen. He wasn't really running per se, but he was behaving like he was in a hurry. His lab coattails were shuffling as he took long strides, and his hands were neatly folded behind his back. He wondered what sort of new powers were going to be duking it out, and whether or not there were going to be impressive fighters this year. Oh, he couldn't stand the wait! As he walked down the corridors toward the gym, he noticed Principal Powers frowning in thought as Boomers was speaking to her calmly. He proceeded to inch his way closer until he could hear them. Of course, Powers was always an observant woman and turned to the scientist just as he was slowing down his stroll.

Boomers turned to Medulla and greeted, "What's up, Medulla?"

"Nothing. I was coming to see the freshmen for this year," Medulla started, sounding bored and indifferent.

"Mr. Boy's on his way to see 'em, too," Boomers replied.

"It appears we have an advanced fighter this year," Powers informed, folding her arms. "Bit of a troublemaker. We have reason to believe she's behind the mental strike to the two seniors. Boomers said the girl pulled her jaw apart during power placement and terrified most of the freshmen."

"Pulled it apart?" Medulla asked. "Is she okay?"

"She's fine. She put it back together like it was a magnet on a fridge," Boomers remarked.

"Professor Medulla!" Mr. Boy called, running down the hallway.

"No running in the halls, Mr. Boy," Powers lectured, causing the man to slow his roll.

Some of the students were laughing at this, wondering how a teacher and grown man could still have such life in him that he seemed to be a child just like they were. Unbeknownst to him, however, Mr. Boy was being followed by a couple of crazy kids himself. Will was following Mr. Boy originally to ask if he was going to teach the advanced classes for sidekicks this year, but he instead had the privilege of sneaking around to overhear the adults' conversation. Of course, Will was being followed just as Mr. Boy was being followed. Warren, in turn, was going to walk Cris to her next class - as nice boyfriends do - but he noticed Will walking towards the gym and just followed him. Only, as he got closer to him, he noticed he was snooping around in other people's conversations. Warren rolled his eyes at this, feeling utterly stupid for being interested in what Will was doing, yet decided to act on impulse and do some snooping himself. He felt he was losing cool points because of it.

"Sorry, Principal Powers," Mr. Boy mumbled, kicking his feet a little and pouting.

Powers smiled at this then went to important matters again with her thoughtful frown. She then said, "It's a shame, you know. To have to get rid of such a talented person."

"You're expelling the new student then?" Medulla asked in disbelief. What was so bad about teaching some seniors a lesson?

_Oh snappidy-doo-dah, they're gonna expel her!_ Will thought, eyes widening.

"No, Professor Medulla, we're not going to expel her unless she does something else that could harm the students. Right now, she's only on probation terms. She could have truly hurt those boys with her powers. The only thing that probably stopped her in the first place was chance. Having a child be brought to an asylum on the first day of school is madness! Until we hear her side of the story, she is on borrowed time in this school."

Warren looked to down to his feet after hearing this and was reminded of his first day at school in Sky High. He, too, was picked on by upperclassmen, but his powers shut them up good. He was a nervous freshmen then, hoping not to get called out as Baron Battle's son, and just wanted to live his father's supervillain reputation down and become a hero like his mother. Although he was tempted to hurt people, he never wanted to see innocent civilians be harmed in any way. He did care. Evidently, high school bullies aren't the first people to know or think that. Initially, he didn't want to hurt the bullies who persistently tried his patience, but his temper got the best of him and he became feared ever since. Even his actions, however, didn't get him on probation or expelled. The most he received was a detention and a warning. He began to wish he could have actually seen what happened.

In all of his classes so far, rumors were spreading about some psycho who invaded the school grounds to attack seniors or homecoming committee members. He rolled his eyes at that. Then came the rumor that a ghost was haunting the school, and that the ghost was taking revenge on the homecoming members because it was the vengeful spirit of a student who once wanted to be homecoming queen. To that, Warren whispered an 'oh my god...' There were other rumors that came up like the attacker was the long-lost lover of a superhero who was homecoming king. Oh, can't forget the rumor about a villain trying to reclaim his title from the superhero teen who stopped his evil plans. Pfft, that one made him laugh! If he had to add one more, there was the rumor that a villainess has risen from the dead to claim the heart of the strongest superhero and make love to him. Good Lord, what are people reading nowadays? That rumor almost made him nervous. If that one was true, then Stronghold was screwed - no pun intended.

"You don't know what those boys could have done to her," Medulla defended. "All teens take risks, and they took a big one with her."

"That's what's getting on my nerves!" Powers complained, rolling her eyes and tossing her head back resignedly. "What's stopping a teenage boy from making up stories about blood and death just because he was rejected by a pretty girl? Nothing! This girl is probably as innocent as a bunny in a basket of flowers."

"Dynamo diva's nowhere _close_ to being innocent. Just flat out creepy if ya ask me," Boomers commented.

"I'm sorry. Dynamo who?" Mr. Boy questioned.

"Some pet name he made up for her," Powers responds, shaking her head. "Her name's Faveau Cazadora. She's a transfer student from a city called Mortsunder, where she was already declared a hero by the city's mayor. Her father and a mentor enrolled her here so she could at least graduate from school and live a normal life outside of being a hero. Her combat skills surpass her peers by a longshot. Boomers has her listed for advanced physical training under junior to senior level, which is astounding for a freshmen. I'd hate to see this kind of strength - this kind of _talent_ - be expelled or punished because of some punks who couldn't take a little rejection. By all means, they probably deserved it."

"Well, you'll be able to tell in five minutes. It's time for the games," Boomers informs, checking his watch.

"What's the girl's name again?" Mr. Boy asked.

"Faveau Cazadora," Powers answers, walking with Boy and Medulla.

"Faveau Cazadora," Will repeated to himself before running down the hallway to get to the boys' locker room. "Faveau, Faveau, Faveau..."

* * *

"Alright, freshmen," Boomers started, eyeing all the freshmen and reveling in their beat up expressions. For a minute, he couldn't find Faveau until he noticed her figure living in a shadow at the end of the third bleacher. He wondered how Principal Powers would handle her once sixth period came. He then continued, "While the upperclassmen suit up, I'm gonna explain the rules for a little game called Save the Citizen. This game has been played since Sky High was founded. Even I played it when I was your age, and so did any other hero you know or don't know who attended this school. That includes any dropouts."

"They had dropouts here?" a student whispered.

"How stupid do you have to be to drop out of a school for heroes? They don't even have a real math class!" another student whispered.

"This is how the game goes. Two students are chosen at random to form a group of two villains _unless_ I have any volunteers that day. The villains will call out two opposing players at random to form a superhero team of two. Sidekicks can be chosen to form either group. Because it is superheroes versus super villains, both teams must go against each other to save..." Boomers paused then took out a remote to activate the area. A male dummy was dropped from the ceiling, hanging on a wobbly rope, above a makeshift shredder. Obstacles such as two garbage dumps, a bench, and several chairs appeared from below the gym floors. "The citizen. There are two record holders for Save the Citizen: for the superhero team, William Stronghold and Warren Peace; for the super villain team, Lash Warner and Speed Francis. William Stronghold was the first freshman to win against an undefeated super villain team, so there's a little inspiration for ya to do your best."

_Oh yeah, no pressure..._ Faveau thought, sighing.

The doors opened, breaking all the freshmen from groaning or sharing their negative thoughts collectively, and noises were pouring in the gymnasium. Boomers simply turned for a moment to look at the kids coming in before going back to the freshmen. Another door opened somewhere else, but no one could track where the extra shuffling of steps came from. Faveau was the only one who looked above her and saw three adults standing overhead. She looked back down to pay attention to Boomers once more. Something told her she was going to be chosen to play first again as the upperclassmen sat in the bleachers on the opposite side of the freshmen group. She really didn't want to play this game. She could feel something bad about to happen. It was just a matter of what.

"Alright, I want dynamo diva," Boomers started, not paying attention to Faveau's annoyed sighing, "Chelsea Petton, Ramirez Santana, Ivan Gasby, and Giovanni Hawthorne. Go suit up," he ordered, turning to the upperclassmen. "Larry, Stronghold, Popsicle, and Guinea girl. Get up here. We're playin' Save the Citizen with the freshmen today. Instead of just two players, we're gonna work with four. Groups are gonna go as follows: One hero, one sidekick, two freshmen. You need to pick a leader and a couple of freshman to join your team. You can pick whoever you want out of the group I hand-selected. Clear?"

"Yes, Coach Boomers," the four responded.

"Suit up," Boomers ordered.

* * *

In the hallway outside of the locker rooms, Will, Maj, Ethan, and Larry were standing around trying to figure out how the teams were supposed to go.

"I think the heroes should be captains," Ethan suggested, wanting to be reasonable. "Neither one of us are really good at leading people."

"I second that," Maj remarked.

"But then who's on what team?" Will questioned, shifting his gaze from one person to the other.

"I don't know. You're the captain. You pick," Ethan encouraged.

"I'll go with Larry," Maj volunteered, raising a lazy hand.

"What?" the boys shouted rather than questioned. It wasn't until everyone else looked at Larry before they noticed him blushing a bit.

"Uh, I mean awesome," Larry corrected, standing straight and produced a cheesy, flirty grin.

"Will. Conference," Maj ordered, pulling Will by the arm away from Larry. If it wasn't Zach, it wasn't right for some reason. She couldn't really explain it. She waited until she was distant enough to speak again, but Will beat her to it.

"You want to be on Larry's team, really?" Will asked, knowing this wasn't like Maj because she never volunteered to do anything.

"Look, I'm only doing this for Ethan," Magenta started, clearing up everything for Will with that sentence alone. He let her continue to explain for her reasons. "For some reason that even _science_ has yet to explain to me, Ethan really likes that goth girl and we all saw her going to the locker room to suit up. If Boomers picked her in the freshmen group, you or Larry can try to pick her on the team. If she's on our team, I can try to be an ambassador or whatever; if she's on your team, maybe they can talk for a minute before the game starts."

"Maybe you should've been captain to begin with because that idea never crossed my mind."

"Ugh!" Maj groaned, complaining. "Boys are such idiots!"

"Hey, you're dating one," Will teased.

"I'll kick your ass later," Maj pointed.


	7. Chapter 7

Magenta walked into the girls' locker room with a mission. Granted, it was a stupid one. Not as stupid as chewing the anti-gravity wires to save the school from plummeting last year or even going on her first double date with Warren and Cris, but this was definitely a close second in her book of stupid things she's done in life. She began to think about all the stupid things she had done in life as she walked to her locker. Which was stupider? Going kiting with Warren and Cris for a double date or being stuck as a guinea pig throughout half the date? She bent over, taking off her PE shorts, and then proceeded to dress as she continuously thought of stupid things. She then thought about a conversation she and Layla had about stupid things. How'd it go?

_"Hey, Maj, wanna go to the park to the Green Festival?"_

_Right, she was watching videos on her computer until Layla called her Thursday morning. She didn't know much about the Green Festival 2006 other than there were major companies trying to show support for the cause. She shook her head at some dumb girl trying to do a backflip and then said, "Don't all the hippies go there chanting hymns and reading poetry about the importance of paper towels?"_

_"No, there's this alternative rock band playing this year," Layla scoffed, feeling insulted. She couldn't really argue about her green, environmentally-friendly ways because those were things some hippies argued for, but that didn't mean everyone had to spit on her toes about it. "I really wanna go see the vocalist! Will's a cutie and a great boyfriend, but Blank Rayne is the hottest rock star. He loves animals, plants, girls..."_

_"Pfft, I bet he does," Magenta spat, holding back a chuckle. There was a news report on some alternative rock star who was arrested after a gig. "Wasn't he accused of carrying weed in his car?"_

_"That wasn't his! He was being a good Samaritan like the upstanding citizen he is when that crazy girlfriend of his brought pot in his truck. I blame her."_

_"Sure thing, green queen. Better than sitting around looking at videos on Youtube."_

_"What kind of videos?"_

_"Meh, mostly the stupid ones."_

_"Well, everything is stupid to you. If it's not stupid, it's pointless."_

_"Like life?"_

_"Fine, I guess that means you're not going. Hey, do you think Warren would wanna go?"_

_"Tch, that's a pointless question."_

_"You know what? I'm gonna ask him just to prove you wrong. Warren's a nice guy."_

_"Hahahaha!" Magenta guffawed, almost bitterly. "Okay, now that was funny."_

Magenta smiled a little at the memory, but she found herself eating her own words. Layla did manage to convince Warren to go with her to the festival. They all hung out, watching Layla's favorite band play alternative rock and psychedelic instrumentals, and actually enjoyed some of the information and activities laid out. She even got to meet the cutest drummer from another band and got a T-shirt signed by him. Now, she was hooked on green festivals and looked up appearances by that particular drummer. Of course, she wouldn't be caught dead following the guy while Zach or anyone else was around. Not much was said from Warren throughout the whole ordeal, except his unusual frequency in complimenting Layla's clothes or some of her causes. While he wasn't a pansy, he did appreciate the Zen culture and tapping in to one's chi - his being fire.

What was she doing before this? Oh yeah, Ethan's super crush! She heard a bit of giggling in the distance and decided to just walk and dress at the same time. If she wanted Ethan to have a girlfriend like Layla did, she had to be persistent and quick about asking the girl a few questions about herself. However, she was curious herself. Why did Ethan find this particular girl attractive more than all the other girls that were around the school? Looking ahead of her, she noticed two teen girls dressing up in the back. She got a good look at Faveau and rolled her eyes as she walked up to her. This was because she remembered she was an ambassador for a potentially doomed relationship. As she got closer, however, she heard the other girl speaking very cheerfully.

The other girl was a blonde girl with blue highlights in her hair. She wore black makeup just like Faveau, but she far more talkative and friendly than her darker counterpart. Faveau was busying herself with the armor as she dressed herself with ease. Their body types though curvy were also exact opposites, Magenta noticed. While the blonde had a heavier body, Faveau was skinnier. Their curves were defined by the muscle in their frame, though Faveau still looked like she needed a few crackers compared to the blonde.

"Hey, Faveau, I think your kung fu is really amazing," the blonde complimented, smiling brightly. "It'll be so cool to team up with you."

"Thank you," Faveau said silently, shyly smiling back at the blonde. She hadn't been openly complimented about anything before. She then complimented, "I think your powers will go far if you train a little bit every day. Spitting out poisonous sludge can be very useful."

"I know right!" she began to argue, rolling her eyes as she put her breastplate armor on. "I wish Coach _Boob_ would see it that way. I could be a kickass hero instead of some sidekick."

"Being a sidekick is not the worst of things," Faveau said with a soft voice, making Magenta and the unnamed sidekick look at her in surprise. "Sure, you're a sidekick now. So what? It takes courage and a strong will to grow out of a sidekick title. Just give it some time. One of the most famous sidekicks is Robin, and he turned out to be a superb superhero: Night Wing. He never gave up on trying to learn from Batman, and he even made a name for himself as he grew into his skills. A lot of superheroes have normal human sidekicks that help them. Did you know that more than 65 percent of superheroes who have the ability of flight actually need the air force and their equipment to locate the exact coordinates of a villain on the run or attacking a city?"

"Wow, but how'd you - ?" the girl began to ask.

"Hey, group one, hurry it up!" Boomers called.

Faveau did the last of her buckles for the armor then tested her movements in it. She did light stretches before she felt ready to go. Turning to the blonde, she waved and said, "Good luck, Ms. Petton."

* * *

Will, Ethan, and Larry (along with the other gym students) heard the gym doors that led to the locker rooms close and turned to see who was walking on the battlefield. Faveau was tying her hair up again, noting that her mother wasted a whole hour making it look nice for her first day of school, and walked onto the court with her eyes closed. She was concentrating on two things: one, her surroundings, which were much different than the dodge ball fiasco; two, her hair because it was refusing to stay in the clip she brought. That was when it broke in her hands and she opened her eyes. She slowly brought her hands down to see the pieces destroyed. Rolling her eyes, she sighed in aggravation then searched through her corridor of power. In a burst of black clouds and black mist, she disappeared from everyone's sight then reappeared in front of her backpack sitting in the shadows next to her umbrella. Several freshmen were screaming in shock and somewhat fear of this ability.

Bad luck was really getting on her nerves now. Her grandpa gave her that clip for her fifteenth birthday! It was her most precious accessory! Where was she going to find a jeweler's place crafty enough to repair a Spanish wooden comb with gold embroidery surrounding rubies and ocean pearls from the seas? That clip was a priceless heirloom! Reaching into her smaller pouch, she produced a cheap alligator-tooth clip and surprised the hell out of everyone when she reappeared onto the court again in a puff black mist and clouds.

"Does that count as a foul?" Will asked, looking from the boys to Faveau. How were they supposed to beat that kind of power?

"I call dibs on her," Larry remarked, raising a hand.

"There's Maj," Ethan said, nodding to their friend.

They've seen Magenta in Save the Citizen a couple of times, but a lot of the heroes got on her nerves with their orders. Some actually had decent plans for her to follow but their instructions were crappy and Zach had to call out to her sometimes. He was a lifesaver for that at times. Now, she was curious to know how this game was going to go. There were four different breeds of heroes on the floor, and two of them would have to give out orders. Behind Magenta was the blonde girl named Chelsea Petton and a boy who was still confused on how to buckle the armor. He was running after the girls trying to fix himself up. Chelsea ran up to Faveau with a smile on her face then waited next to her to be called to play the game. Ivan ran in afterwards, which he hoped was normal because he was practically sweating.

"Hey, dynamo diva," Boomers called, earning the girl's full attention. "What'd you say your power was?"

"Mortes Art, sir," she answered respectfully.

Boomers hummed in thought then proceeded to write down some notes on his clipboard. He looked back up and announced to the freshmen, "Listen up, newbies. Earlier this morning, two seniors at this school were attacked and rushed to the nurse before Power Placement. Due to their inability to explain what happened, they were both sent to a nearby psychiatric ward. One of the seniors, specifically Spencer Coleman, was well enough to speak and said the attacker was a freshmen. Principal Powers is gonna be watchin' you up there to see who might have done it. She's requested to speak to each one of you to get more details on the situation."

"What if I said I was the attacker?" Faveau asked, earning some gasps and whispers from the bleachers.

"Depends," Boomers remarked, frowning a bit. "Are you?"

"Yes, sir," Faveau admitted.

"Tell Principal Powers when the game's over," Boomers replied, sighing in some disappointment. He was looking forward to training dynamo - uh, Favi - and watching her skills develop. He nodded in respect towards Faveau, acknowledging her manners and honesty. He then turned to Will and said, "Stronghold, call your meat shields."

"Uh," Will started, shifting his gaze to the five freshmen, "Ethan, you," he said, pointing to Ivan, then continued, "and her," he chose, pointing to Chelsea.

"And I'll pick this guy," Larry started, pointing to Ramirez. "Plus, the two girls."

Boomers rolled his eyes at Larry's cockiness, hoping he was just joking with everyone to make them feel comfortable, and then looked at his clipboard to begin writing physical training stats for the players. In the audience, everyone was talking amongst themselves including Zach and Layla; however, once Zach witnessed Larry giving Magenta the eye, he rose from the bleachers and felt his face heat up. From this point of view, he understood why Warren was considered scary.

"Hey, Larry Mountain's checkin' out my girl."

"Calm down," Layla said, pulling Zach's arm down which made him plop down. She decided to use some encouraging words for her friend just to reassure him about Magenta's feelings. Truth was, Magenta was planning on letting Zach kiss her - like _really_ kiss her - for the first time and on a very special occasion. He just had to keep being a good boyfriend and remain cool. "Magenta really likes you. You're safe. Speaking of safety hazards, did you see Warren come in?"

"Huh?" Zach said, not paying attention to Layla whatsoever. He was far more interested in Larry trying to drape his arm on Magenta's shoulders. His legs were starting to tremble as he watched, visibly growing angrier. He decided to respond once Layla shook him a bit, "Oh yeah, he came in late to talk to Cris so he's probably up there in the back where he usually sits."

"Well, excited about Friday night?" Layla asked, feeling giddy.

"What's happening Friday night?" Zach asked, turning away from Magenta for a moment.

"This is our last date night together. No more double dates."

"Yes!" Zach shouted, scaring some of the people around him. He and Layla looked around them, seeing people just staring at them, and then noticed Boomers hovering above them to get to his highchair. He only gave a glare to Zach before the boy humbled himself. Zach then mumbled in embarrassment, "I... Sorry, I got excited."

"Tell me something _new_, superstar," Boomers spat, sitting down and shaking his head as some of the students began to laugh.

"Why'd you say yes?" Layla demanded in a whispering tone.

"It's a guy thing," Zach shrugged. He sighed when Layla tugged on him to explain, not liking the answer obviously, and then corrected himself by saying, "I promise it has nothing to do with you...in a bad way. This is a good thing because me and Maj can work on our relationship and not have that short-tempered, egotistical, jinxing son of a - he's right behind me, isn't he?"

"You know, of all the sidekicks I've seen, you're probably my most favorite one," Warren commented, rubbing Zach's shoulder with a heated hand.

"Warren, when'd you move from - ?" Layla jumped, not seeing Warren behind them or hearing him sit down.

"Ethan's super crush is in the group," Warren interrupted, nodding toward the two teams setting up. "Me and Will overheard she might be gettin' expelled before class."

"Expelled?" Layla shouted in disbelief more than questioned. Warren shushed her then pushed her and Zach down to whisper. "For self-defense? Are you kidding?"

"They can't touch her without seeing her powers," Warren said, nonchalantly. He pointed to the overhead viewers' area and then proceeded to say, "That's the principal up there now. She's got Boomers' clipboard. Medulla and Boy are reading the charts from the clipboard, too. He's using a regular notepad for the time being. It's got something to do with whatever happened this morning. Mind telling me what's her shtick."

"I dunno what powers she's got," Layla answered, trying to reason with herself and explain something to Warren at the same time. She couldn't exactly lie and say she didn't see anything because, in truth, she saw the attack happen. Whatever had been said previous to that was completely unheard. She then proceeded to stutter, "I mean, I only saw ghosts attack those seniors. This will be my first time seeing her powers just like you. Only the freshmen or Coach Boomers would know."

A siren blared in the gym, alerting the students and spectators above the basketball court. The scoreboard listed the last names of the four-man teams going against each other. Larry brushed his chest, feeling confident in his skills, and then showed off a cocky smirk before winking at Faveau. He had obviously forgotten that Boomers just told them Faveau caused trouble with seniors this morning and strong ones at that.

"Hey, I'm Larry. I can turn my body into armor made of stone. I'm your captain this round."

"Magenta," she said, rolling her eyes at Larry trying to flirt with Faveau. She'd be damned if this creep got a date with Ethan's crush first! She'd be damned if anyone went out with Larry with the way his cocky attitude was emanating today. She folded her arms then said, "I shape shift into a guinea pig."

"Ramirez Santana," the Latino teen greeted, raising his hand for a shake and exchanging them with his upperclassmen. He had the privilege of sitting next to Faveau on the bleachers already. He then informed, "I can go from one place to another at the speed of a bullet, but that's only if I'm attacking someone. I'm a sidekick."

"Cazadora," she said, bowing in respect.

Larry made a growling noise, showing his attraction to Faveau's name...and her looks...and her voice. He then proceeded to purr, "A chocolate-covered senorita. What's your power?"

Faveau was extremely close to attacking Larry next, but she reasoned if she could get through the whole day without scaring anymore people the day would go by much faster. However, Larry's undivided attention towards her was becoming a nuisance, especially when his eyes began to measure her up. As if it wasn't bad enough she had to see the principal when the game was over. She growled viciously like an angry wolf then threatened in her father's native language, "Si este hijo de puta no alejarse de mí, voy a rasgar su garganta y se lo comen!"

Santana, understanding what Faveau said completely, covered for her and said, "Uh, she scares people."

"What gave that away?" Magenta questioned, thinking she heard the Spanish word for bitch somewhere in that complaint.

"Team Stronghold, you have to stop Team Larry from destroying..." Boomers started, pushing a button to start the shredder below the makeshift citizen.

"Save me!" the mechanical voice from the doll screamed.

Faveau scoffed then rolled her eyes at the stupid-looking doll. She wasn't really paying attention to the doll before when Boomers set up the arena. The coach then proceeded to inform the players, "Your citizen. You have three minutes on the clock."

"Alright, guys, leave Stronghold to me," Larry quirked, bending his knees to prepare for a sprint.

"What's your plan of attack?" Faveau asked, curious to know what her upperclassmen was thinking. He must have a brilliant plan of beating the other team to have suck arrogance.

"Attack, my sexy tamale," Larry answered as if it were obvious. "You can take whoever you want. Get ready."

"Go!" Boomers shouted, signaling everyone to move.

Larry raced to get to Stronghold, allowing Will's team to split up to attack his team. Santana was about to follow Larry's lead until Faveau stuck her arm out to stop him. She ordered, "Leave him."

Santana looked at Faveau, noticing her visible anger, then looked at Magenta. They both turned to Boomers then exchanged glances with each other. Not wanting to get into any kind of trouble dealing with Faveau, Santana argued, "But the captain said attack. What's the hold up?"

"Blockhead is the hold up!" Faveau spat, narrowing her eyes. "He doesn't have a plan. Let him go. Dodge!" She shoved Santana to the side then pushed Magenta away just in time to miss Ivan's punching. Of course, Ivan had already transformed into a robot when Larry transformed into his rock form, so his strength forced a crater to form underneath his fist. Faveau, from that point on, gave out commands, "Santana, go for the kid in the orange on your right! Magenta, transform and bite the antenna on his left ear!"

Both teammates nodded in unison and did as told. That left Faveau to fight Chelsea as an opponent. Chelsea nodded in acknowledgement then licked her lips with an eager excitement to fight Faveau. She actually knows a little kickboxing, courtesy of her father who's a police offer, and wondered how she would fair against Faveau. Both girls got into their fighting stances then went at each other simultaneously. Chelsea was good at defending herself and did make Faveau slip on her sludge several times, but she couldn't quite compare to Faveau's defenses. Their styles were quite different. Though Chelsea can see a little experience in kung-fu from Faveau, that particular form of martial arts wasn't the only thing she was using against her. She switches styles whenever Chelsea switches attack patterns.

In an attempt to catch her by surprise, Chelsea high-kicked Faveau and landed it in her chest; however, Faveau caught her foot and moved it over her head in a windmill sort of motion. Faveau crouched low and swept her long leg underneath Chelsea's feet then called Santana to attack. He ran at frightening speed to deliver a harsh punch, which inspired Faveau to tumble roll and then grab Chelsea by the ankle to throw her towards Stronghold.

Larry was busy punching at Will, trying to land a hit, but Will managed to catch Larry's fist and grabbed his arm to flip him over. When he heard someone screaming, Will turned around to see his teammate hurdling towards him. He managed to jump out of the way and catch Chelsea in his arms, surprising Faveau a bit as he flew Chelsea to a safer part of the arena for the time being. Faveau quickly analyzed where to attack next and took notice to Larry going for Will again, Magenta still chewing out Ivan's ear, and Santana trying to figure out where to strike next.

"Santana, hit the captain!"

"What?"

"Just do it!"

Santana shot a considerable distance towards Larry then slide on his side like a soccer player kicking his ball into a goal. He clipped Larry and made him lay practically flat while still being airborne. Faveau then took this opportunity to disappear into black smoke and reappear again underneath Larry. She stood on her hands to kick Larry in his chest at an angle, which flipped his body around, and then mid-kicked him in chest. He was really picking up some speed now! Will pushed Chelsea out of the way and got hit. He then made the notion that running into Larry was far more painful than getting hit in the face by a dragon's tail. The two teens collapsed, surprising the other teammates, and Faveau shouted another command to stop the other heroes from getting to the citizen. Ethan was already on his way to doing just that.

"Whoa!" Mr. Boy exclaimed.

"My, she's phenomenal!" Medulla complimented, not bothering to hide his impressed tone. "Haven't seen these sorts of combat skills since Jetstream and Firefly. Too bad, she's not the captain, though. They would've won by now."

Will staggered to get himself back up after being hit by a brick wall named Larry and noticed Ivan finally grabbing a hold of Magenta's tiny guinea pig body and throwing her away. He was holding his ear trying to numb out or rub the pain away and then stumbled a bit to try to help Ethan. Santana rushed to Ivan and punched him out. The only way, he reasoned, Ethan or anyone was getting to the citizen was to take Faveau out. Her plans took most of them down, and they only had one minute left to save the stupid doll thing. If she came up with another plan, which she seemed to be hatching with Magenta as he was speaking, they'd lose and probably have to do pushups for the rest of the week. He was not up to being tired on his date with Layla coming up soon.

"Hey, Blockhead!" Faveau shouted, getting Larry's attention. "Couldja get up already!"

Will quickly flew over to Chelsea, who sprayed sludge under Larry's body so he would slip around for a minute, and grabbed her by the collar and waistband to throw her. Warren read his mind instantly, seeing where he was aiming, and looked at Ethan and Ivan getting hit by Santana. Magenta transformed into a guinea pig again, per Faveau's instructions, and let her pitch her body at an extremely high speed towards Ethan. Her plan of attack was easy, but the way it was going to be done had to be timed just right. Wind was flowing through her cheeks, causing them to flap and wiggle, and she screaming in her high-pitched voice.

"This is way cooler than a rollercoaster!"

At the same time Faveau had thrown Magenta, Will threw Chelsea and when she got close enough she formed enough sludge to hit Faveau in her face. Will landed on his feet next to Chelsea, watching Faveau stagger as the sludge seeped into her eyes and burned them rather viciously. It was like getting soap stuck in your eyes! She fell to one knee, grunting and letting out a raspy yelp, and then took some calm breaths to feel her surroundings again.

Layla was proud of her boyfriend, so she did what any girlfriend would do. She shouted, "Alright, Will!"

Faveau was pretty much blind. She couldn't open her eyes or see through them with the sludge, but she wasn't defenseless in her current state. Rising to her feet again, her fighting style changed starting with his fists. Instead of having firm balls for hands, she opened them and formed straight hands. The most she could do was hear everything, so she isolated all sounds from the audience and directed her attention to the people on the arena. When she was ready, she shouted, "Magenta, transform!"

That command started her two versus one battle. This was good. If she could distract the two stronger opponents, her teammates could stop the others. Medulla and Boy were probably the noisiest spectators. Principal Powers was fairly calm about the whole ordeal. These students were doing very well together. It made her proud to see them thinking about where to attack and who to follow or lead. They would be great heroes someday.

"Oh, direct hit!" Boy commented, squinting his eyes when he saw Magenta kick Ethan in his back. Poor guy was just trying to get away from Santana and all of a sudden he gets kicked into the state border. He then saw Faveau triple kicking Chelsea while trying to dodge Will's hits. She spun about and readied a punch to an area that his kids were going to feel. Boy instantly caught that and tried to warn him, "Watch your junk! Ouch, I felt that a little. That girl is something. Who is that?"

"The one who was sprayed is either Cazadora or Santana," Medulla reasoned. "The one who did the spraying is either Petton or Gasby."

Will was hurt. Hurt in ways he shouldn't be hurting if he hadn't been playing this game in the first place! He looked up to hear yelping coming from the person who hurt him and saw Faveau trying to cover her eyes from the sludge. It was slowing her down now. Chelsea hurriedly grabbed Will's arm, trying to hoist him up, and then gasped when she saw Larry running straight at them. Will directed Chelsea onto his shoulders then took flight towards the citizen. The time siren was about to go off in five seconds, four seconds... Will dropped Chelsea down to retrieve the doll and...

"TIME!" Boomers shouted. "He's alive! Heroes win!"

The crowd went nuts from that. Everyone let out a sigh of relief, happy the game was finally over. That was a tough three minutes! Will smiled at how happy his teammates were when they rushed to him and started hopping around. The freshmen were really proud of the hero team. The villain team were kind of bummed that they lost, but they were proud of their teamwork. Everyone helped thanks to Faveau mostly. That's when they remembered she was on the other side of the court still trying to get the sludge out of her eyes. They ran to her to see her struggling to get the black muck off and tried to help peel it off.

Magenta noticed it was starting to harden up and cool so she could tear it easily, but Faveau held up a hand and whispered, "I need water. Get some please."

Boomers watched as Santana used his power to race to the bathroom and come back out with a bucket of water. Faveau took the bucket, thanked his efforts, and then dumped the water onto her face. Now she could rake the black smudge off and dump it into the bucket. Her eyesight was still blurry, but it was better than nothing. Boomers frowned a bit at her, wondering if Powers would even give this girl a second chance. She had real potential to be a leader and quite the hero. She does have some weaknesses to work on but she should do fine come graduation.

"Dynamo diva," Boomers shouted, silencing everyone, "who's your captain?"

Faveau wiped her mouth, getting some of the black muck off then breathed evenly. That sludge was something! Chelsea was going to be an impressive sidekick turned hero. She turned to Larry and asked, "What is your name again, sir?"

"Larry," he answered, wondering why Boomers was so pissed.

"Larry, sir," Faveau replied, turning to Boomers.

"I can't tell. If Larry is your captain, why were you calling the shots?" Boomers questioned, earning the adult spectators' attention.

"He didn't have a plan, sir," she responded, feeling sludge trying to reform on her face. She yanked leftover pieces off then turned to Boomers again.

"You don't say," Boomers spat, standing tall. "This exercise is a team effort. You are to follow your captain accordingly no matter how stupid you think his commands are. There is no overruling in this exercise. You don't just pick your favorite members on a team and boss 'em around like you're the leader. You are to work together or fail, which is what you did. Your plans stalled the team for awhile. So what? Did you even stop to think that your group efforts actually gave the hero team an opening? You had so many open spots, the heroes could've had cake and ice cream while you were busy planning. Because of your independence, you not only cost your team the game, you helped your opponents win. Suppose you were on the heroes' team instead of the villains, you just helped the enemy win over you. Let me get something clear, miss: your captain is_ leader_, his orders are_ final_. Step out of line like that in real life, you could end hundreds of lives in any situation. You better get it through your thick head, dynamo. If you aren't the leader, you don't have authority over the team. Next time you're in battle, figure out whose side you're really on. Hit the showers. Stronghold, Steward, Petton, Gasby, nice teamwork."

"Way to go, creepy..." Santana remarked, rolling his eyes. All that hard work, all that working together... CRAP. Just crap.

"Wow, that's the first time I've ever heard Boomers get that serious with a student," Boy whispered.

"By her already being a hero, she's clearly the most advanced of the bunch. He can't speak to her like everyone else," Medulla reasoned, though feeling a tad sorry for the girl. It was really a shame she wasn't the captain from the beginning. "The way she handled the team carried experience."


End file.
